Johannesburg -- The number of cholera cases among survivors of a devastating cyclone in central Mozambique has jumped to 139, officials have said. Nearly 1 million vaccine doses were being rushed to the region.

The Portuguese news agency Lusa reported the number late Thursday, citing national health official Ussein Isse, who had declared the outbreak a day earlier with just five confirmed cases.

Cholera is a major concern for hundreds of thousands of survivors now living in squalid conditions in camps, schools and sodden homes. The disease is spread by contaminated food and water, causes acute diarrhea and can kill within hours if not treated with oral rehydration solution or intravenous fluids in severe cases.

The World Health Organization has warned of a "second disaster" if waterborne diseases like cholera spread. On Tuesday it said 900,000 oral cholera vaccines were on their way.

"You can imagine how much we are sitting on a water and sanitation ticking time bomb," the secretary-general of the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies, Elhadj As Sy, told The Associated Press last week after visiting a school where 3,000 survivors were sheltering with only six toilets between them.

Some of the hardest-hit communities remained cut off from aid 15 days after Cyclone Idai roared in.

Climate change's role in severe storms and extreme flooding

They are relying on heavily polluted water, the International Committee of the Red Cross said Friday, adding that clear water and medical supplies are urgently needed.

Even in the port city of Beira, the hub of international relief efforts, some of its 500,000 residents have resorted to drinking stagnant water by the side of the road, increasing the chances of diarrhea, the medical charity Doctors Without Borders has said. Others are drinking from contaminated wells.

The aid group has seen hundreds of cases of acute watery diarrhea this week.

The death toll in Mozambique is now at least 468, with at least 259 dead in Zimbabwe and 56 in Malawi. Officials have warned that those numbers are preliminary and final figures may never be known. Some bodies have been found and buried without being registered with authorities. Others were washed away.

As the floodwaters continue to drain, more bodies are expected to be found.

A patient with severe diarrhea is treated in a tent at Macurungo urban health center in Beira, Mozambique, amid a cholera outbreak in the wake of Cyclone Idai, March 27, 2019. Getty

Mozambique President Filipe Nyusi on Thursday announced that the search and rescue phase had ended. He also declared that health care would be free for residents in cyclone-hit areas until the end of the year, Lusa reported.

The United Nations has said some 1.8 million people need urgent help across the sodden, largely rural region. Hunger is another growing concern, as the storm wiped out crops on the eve of harvest.

Officials have found a slender hope in the weather report, which appears free of rain for the next several days. </s> MAPUTO - Cholera has infected at least 1,052 people in Mozambique's cyclone-hit region, the health ministry said Monday in a new report, marking a massive increase from 139 cases reported four days ago.

The mounting cases represent on average more than 200 cases of new infections each day.

Although hundreds have been taken ill with cholera since last week, only one death has been reported so far, tallies compiled by the ministry showed.

A mass vaccination campaign is due to be rolled out on Wednesday as authorities and aid workers are scrambling to avert an epidemic more than two weeks after a devastating cyclone slammed Mozambique.

Some 900,000 doses of oral cholera vaccines were due to arrive in the cyclone-battered Beira city on Tuesday, from the global stockpile for emergency, according to the World Health Organisation (WHO).

"Vaccination against cholera begins on Wednesday in Beira," a senior Mozambican health official Ussein Isse said.

The central city of Beira is the worst affected, accounting for 959 out of the total 1,052 cases.

The city of more than half-a-million people recorded 247 cases in 24 hours between Sunday and Monday morning.

Cholera is transmitted through contaminated drinking water or food and causes acute diarrhoea.

The numbers of cholera cases are expected to rise due to the increasing numbers of people reporting to health centres with symptoms, said the WHO in a statement.

"The next few weeks are crucial and speed is of the essence if we are to save lives and limit suffering," WHO chief for Africa, Matshidiso Moeti, said in the statement.

Cyclone Idai killed more than 700 people across Mozambique, Malawi and Zimbabwe and hundreds of thousands have been left homeless - many of whom have been forced to use dirty water supplies. At least 518 of those deaths have occured in Mozambique.

Experts have warned that the destruction of drinking water sources and lack of sanitation in overcrowded shelters in Mozambique create breeding grounds for waterborne diseases such as cholera.

To control the outbreak, vast quantities of drinking water and water purification units have been delivered to affected areas.

A publicity blitz to raise awareness of the cholera situation is also underway.

More than 146,000 people have been displaced from their homes by the cyclone and subsequent floods are are sheltering in 155 sites across four provinces of Sofala, Manica, Zambezia and Tete, according to the UN.

GALLERY: After the storm, relief & shelter for survivors of Cyclone Idai </s> BEIRA, Mozambique — Cholera cases in cyclone-hit Mozambique have risen above 1,400, government officials said Tuesday, as hundreds of thousands of vaccine doses arrived in an attempt to limit the rapid spread of the disease.

Authorities announced a second death from cholera, which causes acute diarrhea and is spread by contaminated food and water — conditions that some 128,000 displaced cyclone survivors now risk daily while living in temporary, often crowded, shelters. Cholera can kill within hours if not treated.

The cholera outbreak has grown swiftly since it was declared last week with five confirmed cases. Now there are 1,428, most of them in the hard-hit port city of Beira, which has been the hub of relief efforts since Cyclone Idai roared in on March 14.

The city of a half-million residents is most at risk from cholera but the disease also is reported in outlying communities in central Mozambique. The new death was in Dondo, government officials said.

Monday's count of cholera cases had been 1,052.

That figure was already more than double the 500 beds that are now open in seven cholera treatment centres across the region, though the World Health Organization said it plans to "boost the capacity significantly."

Authorities on Tuesday also said the overall death toll in Mozambique from the cyclone had risen to 598. The number has been called very preliminary and the real toll may never be known, with some people quickly buried or washed away.

Some 900,000 oral cholera vaccines arrived in Beira for the expected launch of a vaccination campaign on Wednesday.

"The next few weeks are crucial and speed is of the essence if we are to save lives and limit suffering," WHO's regional director for Africa, Matshidiso Moeti, said in a statement.

Cyclone Idai also killed at least 259 people in neighbouring Zimbabwe and at least 56 in Malawi. </s> MAPUTO: The number of cholera cases has almost doubled in Mozambique in the past 24 hours and the port city of Beira has recorded its first death from the disease since a massive cyclone struck, health chiefs said on Sunday (Mar 31).

Cyclone Idai smashed into Beira on Mar 14, unleashing catastrophic flooding and killing more than 700 people in Mozambique, Zimbabwe and Malawi.

The aftermath may prove to be even deadlier with 1.85 million people displaced after entire villages were submerged and households swept away.

"We've now registered one death from cholera. The person came here in a very critical condition. The deceased is the first to die from cholera inside our health facilities," Mozambique's National Director for Medical Assistance, Ussene Isse, said on public television channel TVN.

Isse said 517 cases of the disease had been reported by Sunday, up from the figure of 271 announced on Saturday.

Cholera is endemic to Mozambique, which has had regular outbreaks over the past five years. About 2,000 people were infected in the last outbreak, which ended in February 2018, according to the WHO.

The scale of the damage to Beira's water and sanitation infrastructure, coupled with its dense population, have raised fears that another epidemic would be difficult to put down. </s> BEIRA — The number of confirmed cases of cholera in the cyclone-hit Mozambican port city of Beira jumped from five to 138 yesterday, as government and aid agencies battled to contain the spread of disease among the tens of thousands of victims of the storm.

Cyclone Idai smashed into Beira on March 14, causing catastrophic flooding and killing more than 700 people across three countries in southeast Africa.

Many badly affected areas in Mozambique and Zimbabwe are still inaccessible by road, complicating relief efforts and exacerbating the threat of infection.

Although there have been no confirmed cholera deaths in medical centres in Mozambique yet, at least two people died outside hospitals with symptoms including dehydration and diarrhoea, the country’s Environment minister Celso Correia said.

A Reuters reporter saw the body of a dead child being brought out of an emergency clinic in Beira on Wednesday. The child had suffered acute diarrhoea, which can be a symptom of cholera.

“We expected this, we were prepared for this, we’ve doctors in place,” Correia said.

The government said, for the first time, there had been confirmed cholera cases on Wednesday.

Mozambique’s National Disaster Management Institute said the local death toll from the tropical storm had increased to 493 people, from 468 previously.

That takes the total death toll across Mozambique, Zimbabwe and Malawi to 738 people, with many more still missing.

“Stranded communities are relying on heavily polluted water. This, combined with widespread flooding and poor sanitation, creates fertile grounds for disease outbreaks, including cholera,” the International Committee of the Red Cross said in a statement.

In Geneva, the World Health Organisation’s Tarik Jasarevic said 900 000 doses of oral cholera vaccine were expected to arrive on Monday. </s> BEIRA, Mozambique (Reuters) - The number of confirmed cases of cholera in the cyclone-hit Mozambican port city of Beira jumped from five to 138 on Friday, as government and aid agencies battled to contain the spread of disease among the tens of thousands of victims of the storm.

Cyclone Idai smashed into Beira on March 14, causing catastrophic flooding and killing more than 700 people across three countries in southeast Africa.

Many badly affected areas in Mozambique and Zimbabwe are still inaccessible by road, complicating relief efforts and exacerbating the threat of infection.

Although there have been no confirmed cholera deaths in medical centers in Mozambique yet, at least two people died outside hospitals with symptoms including dehydration and diarrhea, the country’s environment minister Celso Correia said.

A Reuters reporter saw the body of a dead child being brought out of an emergency clinic in Beira on Wednesday. The child had suffered acute diarrhea, which can be a symptom of cholera.

“We expected this, we were prepared for this, we’ve doctors in place,” Correia told reporters.

The government said for the first time that there had been confirmed cholera cases on Wednesday.

Mozambique’s National Disaster Management Institute said the local death toll from the tropical storm had increased to 493 people, from 468 previously.

That takes the total death toll across Mozambique, Zimbabwe and Malawi to 738 people, with many more still missing.

“Stranded communities are relying on heavily polluted water. This, combined with widespread flooding and poor sanitation, creates fertile grounds for disease outbreaks, including cholera,” the International Committee of the Red Cross said in a statement.

In Geneva, the World Health Organization’s Tarik Jasarevic said 900,000 doses of oral cholera vaccine were expected to arrive on Monday.

Cholera is endemic to Mozambique, which has had regular outbreaks over the past five years. About 2,000 people were infected in the last outbreak, which ended in February 2018, according to the WHO.

But the scale of the damage to Beira’s water and sanitation infrastructure, coupled with its dense population, have raised fears that another epidemic would be difficult to put down. </s> , BEIRA, Mozambique, Mar 27 – Five cases of cholera have been confirmed in Mozambique following the cyclone that ravaged the country killing at least 468 people, a government health official said Wednesday.

Cyclone Idai smashed into Mozambique on March 15, unleashing hurricane-force winds and heavy rains that flooded much of the centre of the poor southern African country and then battered eastern Zimbabwe and Malawi.

The Red Cross has previously warned of a “ticking bomb of disease” and called for the deployment of medicines and health professionals to avert a full-blown health disaster.

“We have five cases of cholera which have been confirmed. This is in Beira and the area around,” the health official, Ussein Isse, told journalists, referring to the port city that bore the brunt of the cyclone’s force.

Cholera, a waterborne disease that thrives in conditions of poor hygiene, causes acute diarrhoea that can prove fatal if untreated.

“We were expecting cholera cases and we were prepared for this. We have put all the measures in place to try to mitigate the spread of cholera as much as we can,” said Emma Batey, a coordinator at the COSACA emergency aid consortium.

Stagnant water, decomposing bodies and lack of sanitation in overcrowded shelters in Mozambique could create breeding grounds for typhus and malaria in addition to cholera, experts say.

COSACA said further heavy rains “would complicate the situation”.

“There will be more cases because cholera is epidemic. When you have one case you can expect more. We are implementing preventive measures to limit the impact,” Isse said.

In Beira’s morgue, 90 percent of those killed by the cyclone and its aftermath had been identified and collected by their families.

“We’ve had a lot of work in the past week, it’s been very hard,” said morgue official Manuel Girimoyo, who added that around 50 bodies remained unidentified.

UN humanitarian aid chief Mark Lowcock has appealed for $282 million (250 million euros) of relief aid over the next three months for Mozambique.

The Un’s World Food Programme (WAP) said roughly 3,125 square kilometres (1,200 square miles) of land had been swamped.

About 400,000 hectares of crops – primarily maize – were washed away just weeks before the main April–May harvest, it said.

Nearly three million people across Mozambique, Malawi and Zimbabwe have been affected, according to the WFP, and 500,000 displaced.

More than 700 people have been killed in Mozambique and Zimbabwe and hundreds are missing, according to an AFP toll compiled from figures provided by governments and UN agencies.

The International Organisation for Migration has said that Cyclone Idai and its aftermath “could rank as the worst disaster to hit the region in decades”.

“In Beira city… they have five cases of malaria and 100 cases of diarrhoea. Soon we’ll have more updates, but they are still receiving other (patients),” Isse said.

“So they are taking precautions of isolating those who have diarrhoea… so it cannot spread.”

A long line of women in bright dresses waited under the baking sun in Estaquinha, 80 kilometres (50 miles) west of Beira, to receive emergency supplies from South African NGO Gift of the Givers on Tuesday.

Environment Minister Celso Correia said around 170,000 people were living in government relief camps but stressed that conditions were improving.

“Most of them already have doctors there and clean water and other means of assistance. The situation is getting better,” he said alongside Isse at the media briefing.

Roads made impassable by floodwaters and debris are gradually being unblocked. </s> Officials in cyclone-stricken Mozambique say the number of cases of cholera has skyrocketed from five Wednesday to 139 by late Thursday.

Cholera is a bacterial disease spread by contaminated food or drinking water. It causes severe diarrhea and subsequent dehydration, and can kill within hours if not treated.

Squalid living conditions — contaminated water and lack of sanitation — in the country following Cyclone Idai are the perfect breeding grounds for the spread of the disease.

The World Health Organization said earlier this week that it is sending 900,000 cholera vaccines to the region.

AFP, the French news agency, reports that a cholera prevention publicity campaign has been mounted via radio and loudspeakers throughout affected towns and villages.

UNICEF has warned there is “very little time to prevent the spread of opportunistic diseases.”

Cyclone Idai clobbered most of Mozambique nearly two weeks ago with hurricane-force winds and heavy rains.

It also walloped eastern Zimbabwe and Malawi. </s> Cholera has infected at least 1,052 people in Mozambique's cyclone-hit region, the health ministry said Monday in a new report, marking a massive increase from 139 cases reported four days ago.

The mounting cases represent on average more than 200 cases of new infections each day.

Although hundreds have been taken ill with cholera since last week, only one death has been reported so far, tallies compiled by the ministry showed.

A mass vaccination campaign is due to be rolled out on Wednesday as authorities and aid workers are scrambling to avert an epidemic more than two weeks after a devastating cyclone slammed Mozambique.

Some 900,000 doses of oral cholera vaccines have been ordered and were due to arrive in the impoverished country on Monday.

"Vaccination against cholera begins on Wednesday in Beira," a senior Mozambican health official Ussein Isse said.

The central city of Beira is the worst affected, accounting for 959 out of the total 1,052 cases.

The city of more than half-a-million people recorded 247 cases in 24 hours between Sunday and Monday morning.

Cholera is transmitted through contaminated drinking water or food and causes acute diarrhoea.

Cyclone Idai killed more than 700 people across Mozambique, Malawi and Zimbabwe and hundreds of thousands have been left homeless -- many of whom have been forced to use dirty water supplies.

Experts have warned that the destruction of drinking water sources and lack of sanitation in overcrowded shelters in Mozambique create breeding grounds for waterborne diseases such as cholera.

To control the outbreak, vast quantities of drinking water and water purification units have been delivered to affected areas.

A publicity blitz to raise awareness of the cholera situation is also under way.
In the aftermath of Cyclone Idai, those infected by cholera jump to 139 confirmed cases in Mozambique.