Haiti’s cholera death toll rises to 136 as outbreak gets ‘worse and worse every day’ – as it spreads across south
More than 13,000 have died from the killer cholera outbreak in south.
The World Health Organisation confirmed today it has recorded 13,086 cases of cholera – including 6,200 deaths – in south and central Haiti since the beginning of this year.
The number of cases in the country now stands at 10,739. The UN health agency said it was impossible to tell how many people were dying from the disease even though a death toll is still being updated.
The death toll has now risen to 136, almost half the total number of cases over the past 11 months.
“The number of cases of cholera in Haiti has increased dramatically over the past month,” WHO spokesman Gregory Hartl said in a statement on Thursday. “It’s difficult to determine how many people have died from these cases.”
But he added: “Our assessment is clear – the situation in Haiti is as alarming as it has been in the past month and the cholera outbreak is getting worse and worse every day.”
A cholera outbreak in Haiti – the third largest in the world – hit a new peak on January 26 when about 9,000 people became ill.
“We are now in an unprecedented situation after the last epidemic was in April,” said Hartl. “So we are now approaching the highest number of cases of cholera in the country in a long time, and the number of deaths from the disease is now at 13,086.”
The worst-ever outbreak of cholera in Haiti, from September 2010, killed more than 8,000 people.
The latest figures have spurred a renewed round of calls for the international community to send more aid.
UN secretary general Ban Ki-moon warned yesterday: “This