Cholera cases now at 313, new cases in three more districts

The Ministry of Health (MoH) has registered new cholera cases in Mulanje, Chikwawa and Nsanje taking the number of cases to 313 and that of affected districts to nine.

MoH spokesperson Joshua Malango said in an interview on Tuesday that Mulanje and Nsanje have recorded four new cases each and Chikwawa one.

He said Karonga has no new case but cumulative cases from November 24 2017 stand at 211, with one patient being treated in a camp at St. Anne’s Hospital. In Nkhata Bay, cumulative cases stand at 20, Salima has 10, while Lilongwe has 60 cases with two new admissions bringing the number of patients being treated in a camp in the district to eight. The ministry also says Dowa has four cholera cases and Kasungu a single case.

Malango said all recorded cases have been treated and that currently, there are nine patients in cholera camps. He said the number of deaths still stands at four.

“In Nsanje, the patients were treated for diarrhoea but samples which we took have shown positive results of cholera,” he said.

Malawi Health Equity Network (Mhen) executive director George Jobe earlier asked government to increase efforts to control further spread of the disease.

He said government should use health surveillance assistants (HSAs) to promote urban hygiene. n