The World Health Organization has declared mpox a public health emergency of international concern for the second time in two years, following the outbreak of the viral infection in the Democratic Republic of Congo that has spread to neighboring countries. A new variant appears to spread more easily with more than 17,000 suspected cases and over 500 deaths this year. Sam Boland, acting Incident Manager at the WHO Regional Office for Africa, tells VOA's Linord Moudou, the status aims to accelerate resource allocation and international cooperation to contain the disease