New York City has declared a monkeypox emergency

New York City authorities declared a public health emergency due to the spread of the monkeypox virus and described to the city as the “epicenter” of the epidemic.

The announcement of the mayor Eric Adams and the health commissioner Ashwin Vasan They said 150,000 residents could be at risk of infection.

The provision will allow the authorities to issue emergency ordinances in compliance with the municipal health code and to modify clauses of this regulation to initiate actions aimed at slowing down the infections.

In the past two days, New York State Governor Kathy Hochul has announced a statewide emergency declaration and the State Health Department has reported monkeypox. as an “imminent threat to public health”.

The cases

The state of New York has accumulated up to Friday 1,345 casesaccording to information gathered by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).

California follows in second place with the most cases with 799.

“We will continue to work with our federal partners to secure more doses as they become available,” Adams and Vasan said in a statement.

“This outbreak needs to be addressed urgentlymeasures and resources, both nationally and globally, and this health emergency statement reflects the gravity of the moment.

The World Health Organization has declared monkeypox as a global health emergency on 23 July and on Thursday the mayor of San Francisco announced a state of emergency due to the increase in cases.

The other rare disease has persisted for decades in parts of Central and West Africa with no known cause of large outbreaks outside the continent or widespread human spread since May. when the authorities detected dozens of cases in Europe, North America and other latitudes.

vaccinations

To date they have been registered more than 22,000 cases of monkeypox since May in nearly 80 countries and 75 deaths likely related to the disease in Africa, mainly in Nigeria and Congo.

On Friday, Brazil and Spain reported deaths related to the disease, the first recorded outside of Africa. Spain reported a second death from the monkeypox virus on Saturday.

In mid-July, New York activated a cell phone alert system for monkeypox by sending a text message “MONKEYPOX” or “MONKEYPOXESP” to a local phone number (81336).

The messages include information about symptoms and disease transmission, as well as guidelines for action after exposure.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) in the United States has determined that the JYNNEOS vaccine, specific against this disease, It is offered as a priority to all risk groups.

These include people who have had close physical contact with an outcome, who have had an identified sexual partner, or who have had sexual intercourse in a location where a monkeypox outbreak has been identified.

Source: AFP and AP

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