WHO said it hoped the chosen name mpox

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Both names will be used simultaneously for a year while moneypox is phased out, the global health organization said in a post on its website, encouraging others to follow the new naming convention.

The decision comes after the name monkeypox — so named after first being identified in monkeys — was criticized for adding to racial and sexual stigmatization.

Monkeypox is a rare viral infection that has undergone its largest global outbreak this year, spreading significantly in non-endemic countries outside of West and Central Africa, and primarily among gay and bisexual men.

The name mpox was chosen after the WHO launched a public consultation process earlier this year, opening out a process usually reserved for a closed door technical committee.

Poxy McPoxface, TRUMP-22 and mpox were among some telegram database of the names submitted.

The would “minimize any ongoing negative impact of the current name.”

The name mpox was submitted by men’s health organization Rezo. Its director said at the time that he hoped the removal of monkey imagery helped people take the health emergency seriously.

Over 81,000 cases of monkeypox and 55 deaths have been reported across 110 countries, so far this year, according to the WHO.

China posted another record high Covid-19 infections on Monday, after an extraordinary weekend of protests across the country over restrictive coronavirus curbs, in scenes unprecedented since President Xi Jinping assumed power a decade ago.

In Shanghai, demonstrators and police clashed on Sunday, with police taking away a busload of protesters, with the BBC saying that police assaulted and detained one of its journalists covering the events before releasing him after several hours.