A cholera outbreak in Zambia has turned critical with the situation deteriorating rapidly in the capital, Health Minister Sylvia Masebo said on Tuesday, according to DPA. The number of reported cases had risen to 1,000 cases from 233 recorded at health centres countrywide since the end of last week, she said. Around 90 per cent of the cases were reported in Lusaka, a key transit city in southern Africa. No deaths have been recorded so far. "The cholera situation in Lusaka is alarming and needs to be resolved immediately to avoid loss of lives," said Central Board of Health spokesperson Victor Mukonka. Health authorities are pressing for the banning of public gatherings in order to contain the waterborne epidemic. "The situation is very serious and it is not good for people," said Masebo. A lack of effective longterm solutions by health and municipal authorities, poor water supply and sanitation in peri-urban and rural settings have resulted in cholera, dysentery and other diarrhoeal diseases becoming perennial and claiming hundreds of lives. Health authorities were on Tuesday yet to announce its response to this latest outbreak.
