The Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (Africa CDC) for the first time broke the glass today and sounded its loudest available public health alarm about the rapid spread of mpox. “With a heavy heart but an unyielding commitment to our African citizens we declare mpox as a Public Health Emergency of Continental Security,” Africa CDC Director-General Jean Kaseya said at a media briefing this morning.

The declaration of the emergency, known as a PHECS, came after a discussion among health ministers and other experts across the continent. It was not “a mere formality,” Kaseya stressed, but marked the need to change footing. “We can no longer afford to be reactive,” he said. “We must be proactive and aggressive in our effort to contend and eliminate this threat.”

The announcement was not unexpected, given the virus’ rapid strides on the continent. African countries have had 17,541 mpox cases this year, according to an Africa CDC update on 9 August. More than 95% have occurred in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), which had a surge of more than 2000 suspected cases in the week preceding the report. Over the past few weeks, Kenya, Uganda, Rwanda, and Burundi have all reported confirmed cases of mpox for the first time, according to a 12 August report from the World Health Organization (WHO). Several of those cases were clade 1b, a variant that has recently emerged in the DRC and has quickly spread there.