Africa CDC records 14 Mpox deaths amid upsurge

The African Centre for Disease Control (CDC) has reported 14 new deaths across the continent following the rapid spread of Mpox while warning the virus spread continues despite efforts to contain it.

“We can say today that mpox is not under control in Africa. We still have this increase of cases that is worrying for all of us,” Jean Kaseya, director general of Africa CDC reported.

“We still have people dying from mpox in Africa. In one week, we lost 14 people,” Kaseya added.

He added that in some countries, such as Cameroon and the Democratic Republic of Congo, two strains of the disease were in circulation.

However, Kaseya noted that due to inadequate surveillance and testing systems, it was impossible to determine if this was also the case in other countries.

“Rwanda has started its vaccination campaign, while the Democratic Republic of Congo, the epicenter of the outbreak, is set to start vaccinations in early October,” he added.

According to Africa CDC, the number of mpox cases in Africa has surged 177%, and deaths have increased 38.5% compared with the same period a year ago.

“So far, 15 of the 55 member states of the African Union have reported cases,” it said.

The World Health Organization declared the recent outbreak of the disease a public health emergency of international concern after the new variant was identified.

Several countries are struggling to respond to another major outbreak coming few years after the COVID-19 pandemic that exposed weak health systems that were unprepared to deal with a major public health crisis.


In one week 2,912 new cases were reported compared with the previous week including a new country, Morocco, where a case was reported, confirming the spread of the disease in all four regions of the continent.