The number of monkeypox cases in Germany has risen to over 2,000 according to statistics released on Tuesday, as the European Union continues sourcing tens of thousands of jabs to help fight off the virus surge.
Germany has now over 2,000 cases of Monkeypox, with the spread of the disease in Europe forcing authorities in Brussels to source tens of thousands of vaccines to help curb case numbers.
It comes as officials in the United States also struggle to get a grip on the disease endemic in a number of sub-Saharan African nations, with New York opening a number of mass vaccination sites last week in the hopes of getting a handle on the infection rate.
According to data published by Germany’s Robert Koch Institute — a federally controlled organisation responsible for disease control and prevention — an overall 2,191 Monkeypox cases have been detected in the country as of Thursday.
Of these cases, the vast majority are “among men who have sexual contact with other men”, with there being only five reported cases of Monkeypox occurring in women in the country so far.
“According to current knowledge, close contact is required for transmission of the pathogen,” the organisation wrote.
Authorities in Europe have meanwhile managed to source an additional 54,530 Monkeypox vaccine doses to help fight the disease, bringing the total number of purchased jabs to 163,620 according to a report by Euroactiv.
As of Monday, EU/EEA countries had seen a total of 7,896, with Spain, Germany and France seeing a substantial plurality of the bloc’s cases occurring within their borders.
The news that the number of German Monkeypox cases has breached 2,000 comes as officials begin to panic about the outbreak, with the World Health Organisation now announcing it will convene an emergency panel to answer the question of whether the new outbreaks worldwide constitute a global medical emergency.
In particular, there is now a fear in the United States that the opportunity to limit the spread of the disease in the country has now disappeared, with American jab meister Dr. Anthony Fauci admitting that there was a lot of “justifiable frustration” regarding the outbreak.
“Yeah look, and I think they’re going to be reluctant to use the word pandemic, because it implies that they’ve failed to contain this. And I think at this point, we’ve failed to contain this,” Former Food and Drug Administration (FDA) Commissioner Dr. Scott Gottlieb is reported as saying on Sunday.
“I think the window for getting control of this and containing it probably has closed, and if it hasn’t closed, it’s certainly starting to close,” he went on to say, expressing concern that the disease may soon be endemic in the United States.
While Gottlieb went on to note that the U.S. lacks sufficient vaccines to get a handle on the health crisis, efforts to jab mostly gay men are underway, with New York City opening up a number of dedicated jab centres last week.
COMMENTS
Please let us know if you're having issues with commenting.