Yemen cholera death toll climbs to 1,500

Al-Sabah Al-Yemeni

At least 1,500 people have died due to cholera and more than 246,000 new cases of the disease have been reported in conflict-riven Yemen in just the last two months, the World Health Organization (WHO) has said.

The death toll has risen from the 1,300 announced last month, when the number of suspected cases was around 200,000, and there are now 5,000 new diagnoses a day.

The new figures show the disease has multiplied tenfold in the last two months, Nevio Zagaria, WHO’s representative in Yemen, said at a news conference over the weekend, and now affects 21 of the country’s 22 provinces.

The first outbreak in the country was confirmed in October 2016, but by May new cases were being diagnosed at a rate three times higher than six months ago. Aid organizations warned last month that the epidemic was spreading like wildfire, with almost one person an hour dying from the water-borne infection.