Four cholera deaths reported in Zimbabwe

Zimbabwe has intensified the screening of travellers at the Beitbridge border post for diarrhoea and cholera-related ailments. Stock photo.
Zimbabwe has intensified the screening of travellers at the Beitbridge border post for diarrhoea and cholera-related ailments. Stock photo.
Image: 123RF/tashatuvango

Four cholera deaths have been recorded in Zimbabwe, with a total number of 21 confirmed cases and 173 suspected cases, its ministry of health department announced on Monday.

“We regret to report a cholera confirmed death from Bikita district in Masvingo province and three suspected Mozambican nationals in Mbire district in Mashonaland central province,” the ministry said in a statement.

As of March 20, seven people have been hospitalised, including at Beitbridge district hospital and Thorngrove hospital in Bulawayo.

Zimbabwe reported its first cholera case on February 12 in Chegutu, about 100km west of the capital Harare. The ministry of health declared 17 cholera hotspots around the country which include Harare, Beitbridge, Chegutu, Buhera, Chikomba, Chimanimani, Chipinge, Chitungwiza and Chiredzi.

Last month, Zimbabwe intensified the screening of travellers at Beitbridge border post for cholera-related ailments.

The current outbreak comes at a time when four other southern African countries — Malawi, Mozambique, South Africa and Zambia — are seeing a rise in cholera cases.

Zimbabwe suffered its worst cholera outbreak in 2008, which killed over 4,000 people from more than 90,000 cases.

TimesLIVE


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