The Department of Health has issued an update on the latest regarding the Cholera cases across the country. 

So far the country has recorded a total cumulative number of 1045 suspected cases of cholera in 15 out of 52 districts across five provinces. 197 of them were laboratory-confirmed.

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Gauteng Province accounts for most of the cases at 89% with 176 reported from three districts. Free State Province accounts for 6% of 11 of the cases, reported from one Fezile Dabi District.

North West has recorded 5 cases, Limpopo 4 cases and one case in Mpumalanga.

The cumulative number of deaths related to the cholera outbreak (both suspected and confirmed) stands at 43 as of Friday, 23 June. 

CHOLERA CASES LATEST STATS 

Province       Confirmed cases   Suspected cases   Total cases 

Gauteng 17 18 35

Free State 2 0 2

North West 0 0 0

Limpopo 0 4 4

Mpumalanga 1 1 2

The department has also appealed to the public to maintain strict compliance with personal hygiene. Especially during food preparation at social gatherings and funerals. This comes as the majority of positive cases and deaths had causal links with funeral service attendance in the outbreak communities.  

“The Department of Health is pleased with the progress made with regards to concerted efforts of interventions put in place to curb the transmission of cholera disease and mortality rate which have significantly declined in the past few weeks around the country.

“The focus has been on preventing further person-to-person transmission of the disease which has contributed to the detection of laboratory-confirmed infections in most areas, especially where there is no reported cholera outbreak,” they said in a statement.