The mpox outbreak continues to represent a public health emergency, the World Health Organization(WHO) said on Friday.

The WHO first declared the emergency in August, when an outbreak of a new form of mpox spread from the badly-hit Democratic Republic of Congo(DRC) to neighboring countries.

Mpox is a viral infection that spreads through close contact, and typically causes flu-like symptoms and pus-filled lesions. It is usually mild, but it can be lethal.

This year, there have been more than 46,000 suspected cases across Africa, mainly in DRC, and more than 1,000 suspected deaths.

The label of "public health emergency of international concern" is the WHO's highest form of alert, and was also applied to a global outbreak of a different form of mpox in 2022-2023.