Capital hit by new cholera upsurge

A new outbreak of cholera has killed at least two people in Maputo, capital of Mozambique, with 182 cases admitted to hospital, the daily newspaper ‘Noticias’ reported on Thursday. The new outbreak was caused by a failure to observe basic hygiene principles and a shortage of clean drinking water and proper sanitation, Maputo city health director Olivia Ferreira was quoted as saying. According to Ferreira, about 80 patients a day are being admitted to the cholera wards of Mavalane General Hospital. “This is a situation that worries us, because the number of cases has been increasing alarmingly,” she said. She said there is a plan to increase the number of beds in the Mavalane wards from 100 to 120 to respond to the growing demand. In another development, the health authorities in the northern province of Nampula decided recently to ban the sale of fish caught in Lake Niassa, for fear that it may be contaminated with cholera, following an outbreak of the disease in Niassa Province.