Will mpox become a global pandemic like covid-19?

A new mpox variant called clade Ib that emerged in the Democratic Republic of the Congo last year has now spread to several neighbouring countries. Sweden and Thailand have also each detected a case in individuals who travelled from this region. So, how serious a threat is it?

It is clear that mpox clade Ib is nowhere near as transmissible as respiratory viruses such as SARS-CoV-2, and thus it almost certainly won’t cause a pandemic on the scale of covid-19. However, initial…