Zimbabwe declares a cholera emergency in capital Harare

Harare's city council declared a state of emergency on Thursday after determining that the cholera outbreak engulfed the entire city, the Newsday website reported.

Mayor Ian Makone blamed the outbreak in Harare on the lack of "adequate water supplies."

"Many people have turned to boreholes and wells that are contaminated. What we are seeing, we last saw in 2008, when the cholera outbreak closed the city and the country," Makone said.

As of Tuesday, the country had recorded 7,398 suspected cases, 50 confirmed deaths, and 109 people in hospital, reported BBC, citing the Ministry of Health.

In May, Harare Health Council Chief Prosper Chonzi officially confirmed the cholera outbreak in Zimbabwe's capital after 21 cases of infection were recorded.

According to the International Federation of the Red Cross (IFRC), the disease is quickly spreading, affecting multiple geographical areas in 45 out of 62 districts and in all 10 provinces of the country, reports BBC.

The disease is expected to spread across borders, says IFRC.

In October, the authorities introduced restrictions in some parts of the country as new cases continued to emerge.

The 2008 outbreak of cholera in Zimbabwe killed over 4,000 people before the United Nations and the US Agency for International Development intervened and brought the spread of the deadly infection under control.

(With UNI/Sputnik inputs)