As the outbreak of smallpox continues to spread worldwide, the World Health Organization has announced that Canada is among the top ten countries reporting the highest cumulative cases so far.

From January 1, 2022, to August 9, 2023, the World Health Organization observed a total of 89,308 laboratory-confirmed cases of smallpox or monkeypox reported globally, according to a situation report published on Monday.

Although it is not the most affected of the countries, Canada finds itself among the top ten countries grappling with the disease.

As of July 28, 2023, the Government of Canada received detailed case reports for 1,440 confirmed cases of smallpox in the country, with a total of 1,503 confirmed cases reported on its dashboard.

This slightly differs from the World Health Organization's figure of 1,496 confirmed Canadian cases, which the World Health Organization states is expected due to "different inclusion criteria and different time frames for data completeness."

With 1,496 Canadian cases as reported by the World Health Organization, the country ranks tenth in the highest cumulative cases worldwide.

The United States has the highest figure with a total of 30,446 cases, followed by Brazil with 10,967 and Spain with 7,560. Colombia (4,090), Mexico (4,045), Peru (3,812), the United Kingdom (3,771), and Germany (3,694) are also among the top ten countries.

The World Health Organization stated that these countries together represent approximately 82 percent of the total reported cases worldwide since last January, indicating that the disease continues to spread.

Last month, there were 1,020 new cases reported worldwide, which represents a 1.2 percent increase in total cases, with the Western Pacific region contributing a significant majority, accounting for 77.2 percent of cases, according to the report, "driven by sustained community transmission in China."

The reported weekly case count globally dropped by 58.9 percent in the first week of August compared to the previous week, but the World Health Organization noted that this may be partially due to the data from China, which includes 491 new cases not yet accounted for in the current week.

The current outbreak of smallpox is affecting 113 countries, regions, and territories. Some countries have sporadic cases while others have high community transmission.
A new country has been added to the outbreak list in this report; Trinidad and Tobago reported its first three cases of smallpox.

China and Portugal, along with six other countries, also reported a significant increase in cases from June 28 to August 8, with China recording a 140 percent increase while Portugal reported a 201 percent increase.

Globally, there have been 152 confirmed deaths, with three recent deaths reported in the United States, and the next update from the World Health Organization regarding smallpox is expected in the second week of September.