WHO to declare monkeypox global emergency

More than 6,000 cases of monkeypox have been reported from 58 countries in the current outbreak, according to the World Health Organization.

The WHO will meet next week to discuss declaring the outbreak a global health emergency, the UN agency's highest level of alert, by July 18.

A WHO committee decided on June 27 that the outbreak, which has seen cases rising in the African countries where it usually spreads and globally, was not yet a health emergency.

More than 80 per cent of cases in Europe were unreported due to a lack of testing, according to WHO director general Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus.

Tedros said that they continue to be concerned about the spread of the virus across the world.

Monkeypox, a mild viral infection that causes flu-like symptoms and skin lesions, has been spreading worldwide since early May.

The strain's fatality rate in Africa is 1 per cent, while this outbreak is less deadly in non-endemic countries.

New South Wales health authorities have urged people to be aware of the symptoms of monkeypox following the likely transmission of the virus within Australia.