Cholera outbreak kills 10 people in Zimbabwe

Last Updated: 2018-09-10

By Reuters Staff

HARARE (Reuters) - A cholera outbreak has killed 10 people in Zimbabwe's capital Harare after they drank contaminated water, a city health official said on Sunday.

Harare city council has struggled to supply water to some suburbs for more than a decade, forcing residents to rely on water from open wells and community boreholes.

Clemence Duri, Harare city's health director said more than 300 people had been hospitalized after contracting the waterborne disease which causes severe diarrhea and dehydration. The outbreak was first reported on Friday.

"The death toll has risen to ten. We have established that the outbreak was caused by a burst sewer pipe which contaminated borehole water," Duri said, adding that the pipe had been replaced.

Zimbabwe suffered its biggest cholera outbreak in 2008 at the height of an economic crisis when more than 4,000 people died and another 40,000 became sick.