LILONGWE (Reuters) – The death toll from a cholera outbreak in Malawi has jumped to over 400, health minister Khumbize Chiponda said on Thursday, appealing to people in the worst-hit areas to get vaccinated.
The total number of cases and deaths has accelerated to 13,837 and 410 respectively since cases were first reported in March, Chiponda told a news briefing in the capital Lilongwe. The current fatality rate stands at 2.96%.
The disease, which is spread through contaminated water and food, has evoked fears among health workers that it could get worse as most of the cases were recorded before the onset of wet weather.
Chiponda said 13 out of 15 districts earmarked for the cholera vaccine have managed to get 83.6% coverage in their districts.
However, she urged residents of Malawi’s largest lakeshore tourist hub, Mangochi, and the country’s second largest city, Blantyre — two of the hardest-hit areas — to get for the vaccines quickly and to tighten hygiene during the festive season.
The latest official statistics showed that four of Malawi’s lakeshore resort districts have recorded the most cases, led by Mangochi, which has the highest number of cases at 3,698 and 71 deaths.
The second phase of vaccination has not started in Blantyre and Mangochi, Chiponda said, although some clinics were administering left over-doses from an earlier vaccination campaign in May. Malawi received 2.9 million doses through the World Health Organisation in November.
The situation has prompted President Lazarus Chakwera to ask the Presidential Task Force on COVID-19 pandemic response to also help mitigate the cholera outbreak, which is considered a public health emergency, she added.
(Reporting by Frank Phiri; Editing by Bhargav Acharya and Jonathan Oatis)
