At least four people have died from cholera in Zimbabwe in an outbreak that has also infected dozens of others in a town located to the southwest of the country.
Health authorities say the outbreak is linked to water shortages in the mining town of Chegutu, but they haven’t ruled out a link to a similar outbreak in neighbouring Zambia, where more than 60 people have died.
Among the four people who have died in Zimbabwe are an 80-year-old woman and three relatives who came in contact with her remains.
So far 22 people are suspected to have contracted the disease. An isolation zone is set up in Chegutu to nurse the sick.
Zimbabwean authorities still remain confident the outbreak is under control despite the reported deaths.
No-one wants a repeat of 2008, when the government was accused of a delayed response to a cholera outbreak that left 4,000 dead and more than 90,000 infected.
Zimbabwe has battled to supply clean water to its cities but issues with decaying infrastructure have hampered those efforts for more than a decade.
CGTN