Cholera Outbreak Death Victims in Malawi Reach 1.000 People, Minister of Health Calls for Caution in Handling Bodies

JAKARTA - The cholera outbreak in Malawi continues to spread and has resulted in 30,621 cases, the highest in the country, with over 1,000 fatalities, Health Minister Khumbize Chiponda said Wednesday.

Most of the deaths have been in the two main cities of Lilongwe and Blantyre, where children have just returned to classes after schools delayed opening to try to contain the spread.

Minister Chiponda appealed to the public to be more careful in handling the bodies of cholera victims before burial.

"People who died from cholera may be washed by family members who then prepare funeral parties... Outbreaks of cholera usually follow these parties," he explained, launching Reuters January 26.

Furthermore, Minister Chiponda asked people to use proper decontamination procedures with chlorine and plastic body bags.

It is known that cholera regularly strikes the southern African nation during the rains from November to March, but there has been an unusually high spike in contamination during and after. The usual annual death toll is around 100.

"The cumulative confirmed cases and deaths since the start of the outbreak were 30.621 and 1.002, each with a case fatality rate of 3.27 percent," said Minister Chiponda.

Health officials said last week that several clinics in the country which received 2.7 million doses of cholera vaccine under the WHO programme, had run out of vaccines. The Health Ministry declined to comment on the vaccine stock situation when contacted by Reuters.