LUANDA, Jan. 10 (Xinhua) -- Angola's Ministry of Health (MINSA) provided a bulletin Friday evening on the country's cholera outbreak, reporting 119 cases including 12 deaths as of 6 p.m., with 14 cases confirmed through laboratory testing and 12 samples remaining under analysis.
"With the confirmation of the first case on January 7, 2025, the Ministry of Health declared the cholera outbreak," the bulletin said.
MINSA has updated and activated its national cholera response plan, mobilizing medical resources and supplies. Key measures include enhanced epidemiological and laboratory surveillance, community communication initiatives, and water and sanitation interventions, such as distributing calcium hypochlorite and disinfecting and supplying potable water tanks.
The ministry cited challenges in managing the outbreak, particularly poor sanitation in affected areas and the lack of potable water systems in high-risk regions.
In the past 24 hours, 24 new cholera cases were identified, with 20 concentrated in Cacuaco Municipality, the epicenter of the outbreak. Cacuaco, a suburban area in Angola's capital province of Luanda, is home to over 1.2 million people.
Of the 119 cases reported, 53 percent are female and 47 percent male. Eleven of the 12 deaths occurred in Cacuaco.
The bulletin defines a cholera case as "a patient with severe or extreme dehydration, or death due to acute watery diarrhea, with or without vomiting, in individuals over the age of two in areas where cholera is present." A confirmed case is "a suspected case where the cholera vibrio has been isolated in stool samples."
A timeline chart in the bulletin indicated cholera symptoms were first observed in a patient on Dec. 31, 2024. ■
