The World Health Organization (WHO) welcomes “signs” that the intensity of the monkeypox outbreak is “reducing” in Europe.

The UN health agency reported 5,907 new cases in a week and two countries, Iran and Indonesia, recorded their first cases. To date, more than 45,000 cases have been reported in 98 countries since the end of April.

60 percent of last month’s cases were in the Americas, the WHO said, and 38 percent in Europe. Broadcasting in America “continues to increase sharply.”

Last week, the number of reported cases of monkeypox each week fell by more than 20 percent globally, although new cases increased in the Americas Region, where intense transmission continues to be observed, according to WHO data. In the early stages of the monkeypox outbreak, most of the reported cases occurred in Europe, with a smaller proportion in the Americas. However, the situation has reversed, with less than 40 percent of cases reported in Europe and 60 percent in the Americas.

“There are signs that monkeypox outbreaks are abating in Europe, where a combination of effective public health measures, behavior change and vaccination is helping to prevent transmission,” the director general said at a press conference on Thursday. WHO, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus. Europe has reached 21,098 cases of monkeypox, which is 4,348 as of Monday (16,750), according to data on Aug. 24 from the European Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (ECDC, for its acronym in English) and the WHO Regional Office for Europe.

By country, Spain continues to lead with 6,283, ahead of England (3,340), Germany (3,329), France (2,889), Netherlands (1,090), Portugal (810), Italy (714), Belgium (671), Switzerland (416) , Austria (231), Israel (213), Denmark (169), Sweden (150), Ireland (128), Poland (121), Norway (76), Hungary (64), Greece (52), Luxembourg (47) , Slovenia (43), Czech (41), Romania (35), Malta (31), Serbia (31), Croatia (25), Finland (22), Iceland (12), Slovakia (12) , Estonia (10) , Gibraltar (6), Lithuania (5), Andorra (4), Bulgaria (4), Cyprus (4), Latvia (4), Bosnia and Herzegovina (3), Monaco (3), Georgia (2), Greenland ( 2), Montenegro (2), Moldova (2), Russia (1) and Turkey (1).

However, in Latin America, Tedros has pointed out that “a lack of public health awareness or action is coupled with a lack of access to a vaccine to stoke the fires of the monkeypox epidemic.” Yesterday, Bavarian Nordic, the company responsible for the monkeypox vaccine, signed an agreement with the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO) to support access to its vaccine in Latin America and the Caribbean. “We thank the Bavarian Nordic for this agreement, and we hope it will help control the monkeypox outbreak in the region,” he praised.

Finally, Tedros has called on all countries to “build in vaccine efficacy studies to ensure data collection, while improving access.”