WHO: DR Congo Faces Worst Cholera Outbreak in Decades

Moscow (ANTARA) — The Democratic Republic of the Congo, which is currently facing the spread of Ebola, is also experiencing its worst cholera outbreak in decades, World Health Organization (WHO) Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said.

“The Democratic Republic of the Congo is also experiencing its worst cholera outbreak in decades, with more than 60,000 cases and 1,800 deaths reported so far this year,” Ghebreyesus told reporters on Wednesday.

He added that there was a risk of contamination in the Congo River, which could lead to the disease spreading to the capital, Kinshasa.

In late October, the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) warned that the cholera situation in Tanganyika Province, in the south-east of the DRC, was extremely concerning.

More than 6,300 cases have been recorded in the province since January, nearly 1,000 more than during the same period last year.

Tanganyika is among the areas reporting the highest cholera-related death rates.