WORLD Health Organisation (WHO) director-general Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus is to convene an expert group to determine whether the growing spread of the M-pox virus in Africa should be declared a global emergency.

Mr Tedros told a press briefing in Geneva on Wednesday that, given the increasing appearance of M-pox cases beyond the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), he had decided to ask independent experts to advise the WHO “as soon as possible.”

The Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (Africa CDC) reported last week that m-pox, also known as monkeypox, has now been detected in 10 African countries this year, including Congo, which has more than 96 per cent of all cases and deaths.

Cases are up 160 per cent on the same period of last year and deaths have jumped by 19 per cent, the African Union agency said.

Africa CDC officials said nearly 70 per cent of the cases and 85 per cent of the deaths in the DRC were in children under 15.

Last week, M-pox was reported in Burundi and Rwanda for the first time, while other countries, including Kenya and the Central African Republic, also identified cases.

Mr Tedros said the WHO had released $1 million (£788,000) from its emergency fund to support the response to M-pox.

Earlier this year, scientists reported the emergence of a new form of the deadlier version of m-pox, which can kill up 10 per cent of people, in a Congolese mining town, expressing fears that it might spread more easily. M-pox is transmitted through close contact with infected people, including via sex.

In 2022, WHO declared M-pox to be a global emergency after it spread to more than 70 countries, mostly affecting gay and bisexual men.

Western countries mostly shut down the spread of M-pox with the help of vaccines and treatments, but very few have been available in Africa.