The National Health Commission recently announced that, in accordance with the relevant provisions of the "Law of the People's Republic of China on the Prevention and Control of Infectious Diseases", monkeypox will be included in the management of Class B infectious diseases from September 20, 2023, and measures for the prevention and control of Class B infectious diseases will be taken. Monkeypox is a zoonotic disease caused by monkeypox virus infection, which has mainly occurred in Central and West Africa in the past. Since May 2022, more than 100 countries and regions around the world have experienced monkeypox outbreaks. Multiple outbreaks have shown that monkeypox has been transmitted from person to person and widely spread to countries and regions outside of Africa, with a mortality rate of about 0.1%. In September 2022, China reported its first imported case of monkeypox, and a local outbreak of monkeypox began in June 2023. Currently, more than 20 provinces across the country have reported monkeypox cases, leading to new local outbreaks and hidden transmission. The National Health Commission and the National Bureau for Disease Control and Prevention have conscientiously implemented the decisions and deployments of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China and the State Council, responded to and dealt with monkeypox as a new and sudden infectious disease, fully played the important role of multi department collaborative prevention and control, continuously improved prevention and control policies and measures, strengthened information dissemination, publicity and education, key population intervention, and standardized treatment, and achieved positive results in monkeypox epidemic prevention and control work. Considering that the monkeypox epidemic will continue to exist in China for a certain period of time, in order to further standardize the prevention and control of the monkeypox epidemic, and effectively ensure the safety and health of the people, the National Health Commission has decided to include monkeypox in the management of Class B infectious diseases as stipulated in the "Infectious Disease Prevention and Control Law of the People's Republic of China" from September 20, 2023, and adopt prevention and control measures for Class B infectious diseases. Previously, the National Bureau of Disease Control and Prevention and the National Health Commission jointly formulated and issued the "Monkeypox Prevention and Control Plan" (referred to as the "Plan"), aimed at timely and effective response to the monkeypox epidemic, and improving the scientific, precise, and effective work of monkeypox prevention and control. The Plan specifies that the overall requirements for prevention and control are to adhere to the principles of "prevention first, prevention and control combined, precise prevention and control, and rapid disposal", and implement measures of "early detection, early reporting, early isolation, and early treatment". The "Plan" provides guidance for scientific and accurate prevention and control of monkeypox in various regions from aspects such as disease characteristics, publicity, education, and intervention, epidemic monitoring and reporting, epidemic response, and laboratory testing. (New News Agency)