Mpox virus outbreak: Expert weighs in on likelihood of UK lockdown

An expert has explained whether the UK could be put into a Covid-style lockdown after the World Health Organisation (WHO) declared a global health emergency over the spread of mpox.

Michael Marks, professor of medicine, said it is unlikely there will be a lockdown because the transmission rate is lower in comparison to Covid.

But the clade 1 mpox variant is still of concern because it spreads faster and has a higher mortality rate in comparison to the milder version of the clade 2 outbreak that was recorded in Europe, Australia, the US and many other countries in 2022.

This second, more deadly strain is now endemic in central Africa and is behind the recently discovered variant in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. Mpox has spread to Sweden while cases have also been reported in Pakistan and the Philippines.