Mpox virus - updates: African countries say travel bans would be unfair as outbreak declared global emergency

African health officials have called the international community not to impose travel bans on countries dealing with an outbreak of mpox .

Head of Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention Jean Kaseya called states to support the continent in rolling out testing and vaccinations instead.

It comes as a public health emergency was declared by the World Health Organisation over a new outbreak of mpox in several African nations , with at least three cases now reported outside of the continent.

Formerly known as monkeypox, the infection has been on the rise in the Democratic Republic of Congo , which accounts for 96 per cent of all cases in Africa.

More than 17,000 cases and at least 571 deaths have now been confirmed across the continent so far this year, with the WHO ’s Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus calling the outbreak an “international concern”.

The outbreak comes as a new strain, named clade 1, is said to be spreading mainly through sexual networks. The WHO says it has been identified in Burundi, Kenya, Rwanda and Uganda – all countries that have never reported cases of mpox before.

In the UK, health officials are preparing for any potential cases of the new strain of mpox after Europe recorded its first case of the more deadly variant last week in Sweden.