The WHO believes that smallpox epidemics in Africa can be stopped within the next six months

The Director General of the World Health Organization, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, said today that he believes that epidemics of monkeypox in African countries could be stopped within the next six months.

He added that the first shipment of WHO vaccines should arrive in Congo in a few days.

Africa has so far received only a fraction of the vaccines needed to slow the spread of the virus, especially in Congo, which has the most cases - more than 18.000 and 629 deaths.

"We believe we can stop these outbreaks in the next six months," he told a press briefing.

The WHO has previously declared the spread of monkeypox in the Congo and elsewhere on the African continent to be a global threat.

However, WHO European Director Hans Kluge said the world already knew a lot about monkeypox, and therefore it could not be considered a "new covid".