For the second time in two years, the World Health Organization has declared monkeypox a global public health emergency. Wednesday's decision follows an outbreak of the viral infection in the Democratic Republic of Congo that has spread to neighboring countries.

An emergency committee met early Wednesday to advise WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghenreyesus whether the spread of the disease constitutes a "public health emergency of global scale".

This emergency constitutes the WHO's highest level of alert and aims to accelerate research, financial resources and public health measures and international cooperation to contain a disease.