Cholera death toll nears 1,000

Harare has been worst hit by a cholera outbreak that has claimed the lives of almost 1,000 people in Zimbabwe, according to the United Nations (UN).

The disease has killed 25 per cent more people than first estimated four days ago, reported the BBC, with 208 deaths in the city.

A suspected 18,413 cases of cholera have been recorded nationwide since August with 8,454 in Harare, the UN said.

However, more than 60,000 were at risk of infection from the water-borne virus, which thrives in unsanitary conditions.

Cholera became a national emergency following the erosion of infrastructure under the rule of Robert Mugabe, who had reportedly claimed the disease was an excuse for former colonists, the British, to get an anchor back in the country.

However, on Monday he accepted World Health Organization medical assistance for Zimbabwean doctors.

Fears were spreading for the health of HIV-positive people, who were coming into medical centres mistaking one of the trademarks of the virus, diarrhoea, for cholera and becoming infected.

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