Latest news bulletin | August 17th – Morning
Catch up with the most important stories from around Europe and beyond - latest news, breaking news, World, Business, Entertainment, Politics, Culture, Travel.
Transcript
00:00Sweden reports a case of a more severe strain of mpox, the first such variant detected outside
00:07of Africa.
00:09NGOs are calling on the EU to intervene after Bulgaria passed a controversial anti-LGBT
00:18law.
00:25Sweden has reported a case of a more severe strain of mpox, the first clade 1 variant
00:30to be detected outside of an ongoing outbreak in African countries.
00:36Public health officials said it was diagnosed in a person who sought treatment in Stockholm
00:41after being infected in an area of Africa where the strain of the virus is spreading.
00:46The announcement from Sweden comes a day after the World Health Organization said the
01:13outbreak of mpox in Africa constituted a global health emergency.
01:18It's the second time mpox has been designated a public health emergency of international
01:22concern in two years.
01:25WHO is on the ground working with the affected countries and others at risk through our country
01:33and regional offices as well as with partners including the Africa CDC, NGOs, civil society
01:40and more.
01:41The Swedish public health agency said that the patient being treated in the country for
01:45the virus doesn't pose a risk to the general population.
01:49But the WHO is warning that the new mpox variant is a threat to the rest of the world.
01:56This one is spreading very rapidly and it's spread to countries in Africa that have never
02:00seen it before such as Rwanda, Kenya, Burundi, we're seeing a lot of cases in Burundi and
02:07also in Uganda and these are countries that have got a lot of contact with the rest of
02:12the world but it's really so that's a threat to the rest of the world.
02:17There are two subtypes of the mpox virus.
02:19Clade 1 which is endemic in Central Africa is thought to cause more severe illness and
02:24higher mortality.
02:26The 2022 global outbreak was caused by clade 2 which is endemic in West Africa.
02:32More than 300 cases of mpox had previously been detected in Sweden linked to the 2022
02:38global outbreak of the virus.
02:44NGOs are calling on the European Commission to intervene after Bulgaria passed a Russian
02:50inspired law banning what it calls LGBT propaganda in schools.
02:56The bill amends a previous education law and makes it illegal to promote ideas and
03:02views related to non-traditional sexual orientation and or the determination of gender identity
03:08other than biological.
03:13Bulgaria's President Ruman Radev gave his seal of approval to the bill on Thursday despite
03:18pleas from human rights groups for his veto.
03:22President Radoslav Stolnov, chairman of the Bulgarian Helsinki committee says sooner or
03:27later the law will be repealed.
03:36Others are of the opinion that the MP's decision is a step in the right direction.
03:52Meanwhile, primary school teacher Velichka Tosachikova says the law is unnecessary.
04:15Velichka Tosachikova says the law is unnecessary.
04:40Human rights groups are urging the European Commission to quickly begin infringement procedures
04:45against Sofia for what they see as a violation of the EU's core values.