(Geneva) The number of available Mpox tests remains low in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), the country most affected by the epidemic, regretted the World Health Organization (WHO) on Saturday in its latest situation report.
“Testing coverage in the DRC remains low, due to limited testing capacity,” the UN health agency said in its latest update.
“Due to limited access to laboratory testing in remote areas, only about 40% of suspected cases were tested in 2024 (compared to 9% in 2023), and of these, about 55% tested positive,” WHO adds.
The three countries reporting the highest number of suspected cases in the year to September 8 are the DRC, followed by Burundi (1,489 suspected cases, no deaths) and Nigeria (935 suspected cases, no deaths).
On August 14, WHO declared an international emergency regarding Mpox.
Regarding global vaccine availability, WHO said more than 3.6 million doses have been pledged, including more than 620,000 doses of MVA-BN vaccine from European countries, the United States and manufacturer Bavarian Nordic.
Japan has pledged three million doses of the LC16 vaccine. To date, 265,000 doses of the MVA-BN vaccine have been delivered to Kinshasa and 10,000 to Nigeria.