The WHO Did Not Order To Prepare For Lockdowns Due To Monkeypox
The Claim
Will you be “Locked Down”? The World Health Organization (WHO) has ordered government’s to prepare to initiate tough new lockdowns due to the “strong likelihood” that the new monkeypox strain will become a deadly pandemic.
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Emerging story
Upon declaring the monkeypox outbreak a public health emergency by the World Health Organization on Wednesday, a claim emerged on X alleging that WHO has ordered governments to prepare to initiate new lockdowns due to the new monkeypox strain that may become a deadly pandemic.
Misbar’s Analysis
Misbar investigated the viral claim and found it to be satirical.
Monkeypox Lockdown Claims Are Satirical
Misbar’s team traced the article cited by many X users and found that it was originally published on The People’s Voice.
“The People’s Voice,” which was formerly known as “Your News Wire,” is a satirical fake news website, founded by Sean Adl-Tabatabai.
In an interview with The Standard, Sean Adl-Tabatabai said that his job is to oversee and edit alternative news websites, to cover stories that the mainstream media is not covering.
It should also be noted that the article on The People Voice’s website did not mention the lockdowns except in the title.
Monkeypox Lockdowns Are Not Likely To Happen
Contrary to the claim, the monkeypox virus is not likely to cause lockdowns across the world as what the covid has caused. The monkeypox effects and spreading are lesser compared to COVID-19, according to The Economic Times.
Furthermore, since the declaration of Monkeypox as a public health emergency, the World Health Organization only published two articles. The first article was the one mentioned in The People’s Voice’s article, which was published on August 14, and in it, Monkeypox was declared to be a public health emergency. However, no mention of any lockdown could be found in the article.
The other article was published on August 17, it contains questions and answers about the monkeypox virus. Similarly, no mention of lockdown could be found in it, except for a recommendation of isolation for those who caught the infection.
In addition, no government in the world mentioned a lockdown due to the outbreak of monkeypox.
New Mpox Outbreak
The World Health Organization previously declared monkeypox as a global emergency three years ago in July 2022. That outbreak affected nearly 100,000 people and killed 208 in 116 countries.
The virus has now developed a new clade and is spreading rapidly in the eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo. Accordingly, WHO declared mpox outbreak a public health emergency.
Although no cases of the new clade of mpox have been reported outside central and eastern Africa, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommends clinicians in the United States to alert of the virus due to the high risk of additional spread.
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