The World Health Organization has declared the ongoing outbreaks of mpox in Congo and elsewhere in Africa to be a global emergency, requiring urgent action to curb the virus’ transmission.

The head of the World Health Organization says he will convene an expert group to determine if the increasing spread of the mpox virus in Africa warrants being declared a global emergency.

Kenya and the Central African Republic have declared new outbreaks of mpox as Africa's health officials are racing to contain the spread of the disease in a region lacking vaccines.

The federal government plans to end in January the public health emergency it declared earlier this year after an outbreak of mpox left more than 29,000 people across the U.S. infected.

The World Health Organization is renaming monkeypox as mpox, citing concerns the original name of the decades-old animal disease could be construed as discriminatory and racist.

The World Health Organization is holding an open forum to rename the disease monkeypox, after some critics raised concerns the name could be derogatory or have racist connotations.

British health authorities say the monkeypox outbreak across the country may be peaking and that the epidemic’s growth rate has slowed.

Authorities say a Navy medic shot and wounded two U.S. sailors at a military facility before fleeing to a nearby Army base where security forces shot and killed him.

Reports from Britain and South Africa of new coronavirus strains that seem to spread more easily are causing alarm, but virus experts say it’s unclear if that’s the case or whether they pose any concern for vaccines or cause more severe disease. New variants, or strains, of the virus that causes COVID-19 have been seen almost since it was first detected in China nearly a year ago. Several European Union countries and Canada were banning or limiting some flights from the U.K. to try to limit any spread. The one in the U.K. has the two changes and more, including eight to the spike protein, Gupta said. But vaccines may need fine-tuned over time as changes accumulate, and changes should be more closely monitored, he wrote.