New Delhi, Jul 23 (IANS): The World Health Organisation on Saturday declared the monkeypox as public health emergency of international concern.

The global health body said the expanding monkeypox outbreak in more than 70 countries is an "extraordinary" situation that now qualifies as a global emergency.

"WHO's assessment is that the risk of monkeypox is moderate globally and in all regions, except in the European region where we assess the risk as high," WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Gherbreyesus said in a statement.

The statement also said further that it is also a clear risk of further international spread, although the risk of interference with international traffic remains low for the moment.

"So in short, we have an outbreak that has spread around the world rapidly, through new modes of transmission, about which we understand too little, and which meets the criteria in the International Health Regulations," the WHO chief added.

"For all of these reasons, I have decided that the global monkeypox outbreak represents a public health emergency of international concern," he added.

The WHO had previously declared emergencies for public health issues such as the Covid-19 pandemic, the 2014 West African Ebola outbreak, the Zika virus in Latin America in 2016 and the ongoing effort to eradicate polio.

Meanwhile, India has confirmed three cases of monkeypox, all reported in Kerala.