The death toll from a cholera outbreak in Malawi has surpassed 1,000, and the number of cases has risen to 30,621, the highest on record in the country, according to Health Minister Khumbize Chiponda on Wednesday.
The majority of the fatalities happened in the two largest cities, Lilongwe and Blantyre, where students have just started attending classes again after schools delayed opening in an effort to stop the spread.
Before funerals, Chiponda urged people to handle cholera victims’ bodies with extra caution.
“People who are dying from cholera may be washed by family members who then prepare funeral feasts … Outbreaks of cholera commonly follow these feasts,” she said.
The minister called for people to use proper decontamination procedures with chlorine and plastic body bags.
Cholera regularly hits the southern African country during rains from November to March, but there was an unusually high surge in contaminations during and after the festive season.
The usual annual death toll is around 100.
“The cumulative confirmed cases and deaths since the onset of the outbreak is 30,621 and 1,002, respectively with case fatality rate at 3.27 per cent,” Chiponda said.
Health officials said last week that a number of clinics in the country, which received 2.7 million doses of the cholera vaccine under a WHO programme, were running low of supplies.
The health ministry refused to comment on vaccine stock situation when reached by Reuters. (Reuters/NAN)
