After claiming that the monkeypox infections, now spread to about 30 countries with more than 550 confirmed cases, can be contained, the World Health Organisation has admitted that it is not sure whether the virus can be kept in check. WHO officials, had earlier, stated that the monkeypox outbreak "is a containable situation", and "collectively, the world has an opportunity to stop this outbreak. There is a window".

However, now, Dr Hans Kluge, head of the WHO's Europe office, said "we do not yet know if we will be able to contain its spread completely". He said that although the monkeypox response should not mimic the scale of Covid-style restrictions, health authorities do need to take "significant and urgent" action to mitigate the threat. According to Kluge, Europe remains at the epicentre of the largest and most geographically widespread monkeypox outbreak ever reported outside of endemic areas in western and central Africa. The learning curve has been steep over the past two weeks.