The World Health Organisation (WHO) Friday announced that it has reported a declining number of new mpox cases in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) over the past six weeks.
In a statement, WHO said five African countries, however, have managed to control the spread of the virus and they have not reported new lab-confirmed cases in the past six weeks.
The DRC, the epicentre of the ongoing mpox epidemic, Burundi and Uganda account for about 96 percent of the confirmed cases, according to the latest WHO report.
The report also highlighted that many suspected cases, clinically compatible with mpox, have gone untested due to limited diagnostic capacity.
The expanding geographic spread and increasing case numbers suggest high levels of community transmission in countries like Uganda and Burundi, with a significant risk of further escalation, the WHO said, while smaller outbreaks in countries like Cote d’Ivoire and the Central African Republic remain more contained.
Having reported 8,662 confirmed cases, the DRC continues to face major challenges in surveillance and testing, with only eight national laboratories equipped for diagnostics, all operating with severe staffing constraints.
Despite a downward trend in new weekly cases over the past six weeks, the WHO noted that delays in case confirmation and reporting could lead to an incomplete picture of the true extent of the outbreak in the DRC.
On Wednesday, DRC Health Minister Roger Kamba announced the launch of a new round of vaccinations. So far, about 51,000 people have been vaccinated, and the country has 200,000 doses of the vaccine on hand, with an additional 100,000 doses received on Thursday.
The DRC aims to vaccinate a total of 2.5 million people.
The WHO has also expressed concern about the growing number of cases in Uganda, where mpox cases have been “rising exponentially.”
It said the situation underscores the need for a more decentralized response, with a focus on hotspots and active involvement from leaders at all levels.
MG/jn/APA