Agencies: The World Health Organization announced on Saturday the declaration of a global health emergency due to the monkeypox outbreak.

It confirmed that WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus has raised the highest level of alert in response to monkeypox.

It pointed out that the spread of monkeypox remains under control worldwide except in Europe where the risks are higher, noting that monkeypox has spread to 70 countries.

The World Health Organization announced further cases of monkeypox around the world.

The announcement comes as more than 15,300 monkeypox cases have been recorded in 72 countries, according to figures from the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) as of July 20.

At the first meeting held on June 23, the majority of experts recommended that the WHO should not declare a public health emergency of international concern.

Since the first monkeypox cases were detected in early May, the infection started spreading outside Central and West African countries where the virus is endemic, and then spread worldwide, with Europe being its epicenter.

Monkeypox, discovered in humans in 1970, is considered less severe and contagious than smallpox, which was eradicated in 1980.