Outbreak of cholera in Zim

– Zimbabwe declared a cholera outbreak in the capital Harare after 20 died from the disease and more than 2 000 people were infected after drinking contaminated water, new Health Minister Obadiah Moyo said yesterday.

Harare city council has struggled to supply water to some suburbs for more than a decade, forcing residents to rely on water from open wells and community boreholes.

The latest cholera outbreak came after burst sewers in Budiriro and Glenview suburbs contaminated water in the boreholes and open wells, said Moyo.

“We are declaring an emergency for Harare. This will enable us to contain cholera, typhoid and whatever is going on. We don’t want any further deaths,” Moyo said.

The health minister said the selling of meat and fish by vendors in the affected suburbs had been banned and the police would enforce it.

Moyo said the government had suspended classes at some schools in two suburbs at the epicentre of the outbreak and had also asked for help from the United Nations agencies and private companies to supply water.

Zimbabwe’s biggest cholera outbreak was in 2008 when more than 4 000 people died. – Reuters

Harare