evidence: The WHO European Region remains at the epicentre of the largest and most geographically widespread monkeypox outbreak ever reported outside of endemic areas in western and central Africa. The learning curve has been steep over the past 2 weeks. We now have a critical opportunity to act quickly, together, to rapidly investigate and control this fast-evolving situation. [...] We must remember, however, as we have seen from previous outbreaks, that monkeypox is caused by a virus that can infect anyone and is not intrinsically associated with any specific group of people. The gay and bisexual communities have high awareness and rapid health-seeking behaviour when it comes to their and their communities’ sexual health. Indeed, we should applaud them for their early presentation to health-care services. [...] As of now, an effective response to monkeypox will not require the same extensive population measures as we needed for COVID-19 because the virus does not spread in the same way. But – and this is important – we do not yet know if we will be able to contain its spread completely. For that, we need a significant and urgent reduction in exposures through clear communication, community-led action, case isolation during the infectious period, and effective contact tracing and monitoring.