South African Capital Hit by Cholera Outbreak With 12 Dead

Twelve people have died of cholera and 95 have visited hospitals with symptoms that indicate they could have the disease in Tshwane, the municipality that encompasses the South African capital of Pretoria.

(Bloomberg) — Twelve people have died of cholera and 95 have visited hospitals with symptoms that indicate they could have the disease in Tshwane, the municipality that encompasses the South African capital of Pretoria.

As of Sunday, 19 cases of cholera, in addition to those who have died, were confirmed and 37 were hospitalized, the provincial health department said in a statement. The hotspot of the outbreak is in Hammanskraal in the north of Tshwane.

Hundreds of people have died in Malawi and Mozambique from the disease this year and a small number of cases were previously reported in South Africa. Cholera is a diarrheal disease caused by a virus that spreads in unsanitary conditions. 

“The City of Tshwane has issued a notice urging communities of Hammanskraal not to drink tap water and has supplied water tankers to the hospital and surrounding communities,” the Gauteng Department of Health said in a statement. The province of Gauteng includes Pretoria and Johannesburg, South Africa’s biggest city.

In the Free State, a province on Gauteng’s southern border, six chases of cholera have been confirmed and 76 people have visited hospitals with diarrheal infections, the national Department of Health said in a statement on Sunday. The infections were found in the towns of Vredefort and Parys.

Read more: Cholera Risk in Malawi Climbs as Cyclone Wreaks Further Harm

 

(Updates death toll in headline and first paragraph and number of hospitalized in second paragaph)

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