Kinshasa, Aug 28 (IANS): At least 610 people were killed due to monkeypox in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), said Health Minister Roger Kamba.

The minister urged the population to adhere to protective measures, especially with the upcoming school year in early September, and to get vaccinated as soon as vaccines become available, Xinhua news agency reported.

The country has reported 17,801 suspected cases so far.

Suspected cases are being reported in conflict-affected provinces that host the majority of the country's 7.3 million internally displaced people, which risks "worsening an already untenable situation for a population devastated by decades of conflict," said a statement released Tuesday by the UN High Commissioner for Refugees.

On Monday, the World Health Organization (WHO) launched a Global Strategic Preparedness and Response Plan for monkeypox also known as mpox to end human-to-human transmission of smallpox through coordinated efforts at global, regional, and national levels.

"The mpox outbreaks in the DRC and neighbouring countries can be controlled, and can be stopped," said WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus.