Sharjah 24 – AFP: A World Health Organisation committee of experts met Thursday to decide whether the monkeypox outbreak constitutes a global health emergency.

The outcome of the in-private meeting will be issued on Friday at the earliest, the WHO said.

A surge of monkeypox cases has been detected since May outside of the West and Central African countries where the disease has long been endemic. Most of the new cases have been in Western Europe.

More than 3,200 confirmed cases and one death have now been reported to the WHO from 48 countries in total this year, WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus told the start of the meeting.

Tedros announced on June 14 that he would convene an emergency committee to assess whether the outbreak constitutes a public health emergency of international concern (PHEIC) -- the highest alarm that the UN health agency can sound.

Besides providing a PHEIC assessment, the committee members were set to give the WHO and its member states advice on how to better prevent the spread of the disease and manage their response.