The Biden administration on Thursday declared monkeypox a public health emergency, with cases on the rise in the US.
The announcement was made during a briefing with the Department of Health and Human Services.
The government has been criticized at times for handling the outbreak, and some have called on the government to declare a national emergency without delay.
Since the first case of smallpox in the US was identified in mid-May, more than 6,600 probable or confirmed cases have been detected in the United States. Infections have been identified in all states except Montana and Wyoming.
The statement follows the World Health Organization (WHO) announcement last month that monkeypox is a public health emergency of international concern.
The WHO defines a public health emergency of international concern, or PHEIC, as “an extraordinary event” that constitutes a “public health risk to other States through the international spread of disease” and “potentially requires a coordinated international response”. .
Some cities and states, including New York, San Francisco, California, Illinois and New York, have already declared monkeypox an emergency, allowing them to free up funds and resources for their responses to the outbreak.
On Tuesday, President Joe Biden appointed Robert Fenton as the White House’s national smallpox response coordinator.
Fenton — a regional administrator for the Federal Emergency Management Agency who oversees Arizona, California, Hawaii and Nevada — will coordinate the federal government’s response to the outbreak.
Demetre Daskalakis, director of the Division of HIV/AIDS Prevention at the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, serves as deputy coordinator.
Source: CNN Brasil
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