There is an international public health emergency due to the monkeypox outbreak, according to the World Health Organization.
Following a meeting of the WHO's second emergency committee on Thursday, the organisation revealed its decision on Saturday.
"I have decided that the global monkeypox outbreak represents a public health emergency of international concern,"
WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus announced on Saturday morning
Tedros said he made the conclusion after considering the five components needed to determine if an epidemic is a public health emergency of international importance.
WHO's first emergency committee meeting on June 23 didn't declare monkeypox an international health emergency.
WHO describes a PHEIC as "an unusual event" that may necessitate a coordinated international response due to the transnational spread of disease.
The organization's emergency monkeypox committee initially met in late June, when its members expressed alarm about the outbreak's extent and speed but stated it wasn't a PHEIC. Tedros reconvened the committee to update them, he said.