Will governments apply lessons learned from COVID to this latest viral outbreak?
Monkeypox is spreading: there have been more than 3,000 confirmed cases of this virus in over 40 countries, and the actual number is likely much higher. Although the monkeypox virus is not normally as contagious or transmissible as coronavirus, this peculiar spread of cases worldwide is worrisome, because there are still so many unknowns.
The global monkeypox outbreak is a test for world leaders. We are still in early days, and policy makers have a small window of opportunity to act quickly and put the right measures in place to stop monkeypox from turning into another disaster. They should strengthen virus surveillance and work on deploying decentralized, privacy-preserving and encrypted contact tracing to avoid data breaches and to ensure trust within their communities.
The WHO struggled in the beginning to be consistent in its messaging—as what we were learning changed in real time and there was a lack of clear evidence on the dynamics of COVID transmission. Politicians, for example, in the U.S. and Japan, did not let it go unnoticed. I am still unable to fully grasp the rationale behind leaders in office spreading misinformation and promoting unproven coronavirus remedies such as hydroxychloroquine or ivermectin, knowing that people’s lives were at stake. The unfortunate cocktail of lies, fake news, politics, blame and incompetent governance during a highly lethal pandemic has put the public on the losing end.