The World Health Organisation reported 1,153 confirmed mpox cases and seven deaths across 11 African countries in the six weeks between 6 July 2026 and 16 August 2026, a grim tally that shows how disease keeps moving through the cracks while institutions count, classify, and issue reports after the damage is already done.
Who Carries the Burden
Madagascar recorded 785 cases, the highest during the period. Angola followed with 184, Kenya with 94, the Democratic Republic of the Congo with 41, and Cameroon with 28. Those are the numbers that matter most to the people living through the outbreak, because they’re the ones absorbing the consequences while the machinery of public health speaks in percentages and situation reports.
WHO said reported weekly confirmed cases have remained somewhat stable on the continent, with about 200 cases per week in recent weeks. But the organisation also cautioned that the figures could be underestimated because of reporting delays and reduced surveillance. That’s the familiar arrangement: the official record arrives late, and the people at the bottom live with the uncertainty.
The WHO disclosed the figures in its Mpox: Multi-country External Situation Report published on 14 September. The report said the latest numbers are part of a multi-country mpox outbreak that has affected 35 African countries since January 2025. Between 1 January 2025 and 16 August 2026, those countries reported 52,424 confirmed mpox cases and 238 deaths.
What the Institutions Count
Globally, WHO said 65,784 confirmed cases and 264 deaths were reported in 105 countries between 1 January 2025 and 31 July 2026. In July alone, 32 countries reported 1,370 confirmed cases and seven deaths, with the African Region accounting for 74.8 percent of the cases. The numbers are global, but the burden still lands hardest where health systems are already under strain and surveillance can’t keep pace.
WHO also reported new developments in the virus's spread. Chile and Hungary reported mpox caused by clade Ib for the first time. Community transmission of the clade was reported in Czechia, France, Germany, Ireland, Italy, the Netherlands, Portugal, Switzerland and the United Kingdom. Spain had the highest cumulative number of clade Ib cases in that group, with 241, followed by France with 173, Portugal with 162, and Germany with 140.
Madagascar remains a major concern. WHO described its outbreak as the largest mpox outbreak globally and in the African Region since December 2025. As of 16 August, Madagascar had recorded 3,436 confirmed cases and 22 deaths. Those figures sit at the center of the crisis, not the polished language of the agencies trying to manage it from above.
What They Call Control
The latest development comes months after the Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention declared an end to mpox as a Public Health Emergency of Continental Security in January 2026. Africa CDC said at the time that the emergency declaration was being lifted as the continent moved from an emergency response towards longer-term control and elimination of the disease.
The agency reported that suspected mpox cases had fallen by 40 percent and confirmed cases by 60 percent between early and late 2025, while the suspected case fatality ratio fell from 2.6 percent to 0.6 percent. It also stressed that mpox remained endemic in some settings and that vaccination would remain central to the response.
WHO now considers the ongoing multi-country outbreak a graded health emergency and has extended its standing recommendations on mpox until August 2027. The language changes. The virus doesn’t.