HARARE–The death toll from Zimbabwe's worst recorded cholera epidemic has risen to nearly 500, the World Health Organization (WHO) said yesterday, in a sign of the rapidly deepening crisis.
The spread of cholera, normally a preventable and treatable disease, highlights the collapse in the once relatively prosperous African nation, where President Robert Mugabe and the opposition are squabbling over how to implement a power-sharing agreement.
Opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai's party said talks on the unity government would resume in two weeks. Mugabe's chief negotiator, Justice Minister Patrick Chinamasa, made no comment.
The WHO said most regions of Zimbabwe were reporting infections, and fatality rates near 50 per cent in areas. It reported 484 deaths and 11,735 infections.
"Cholera outbreaks in Zimbabwe have occurred annually since 1998, but previous epidemics never reached today's rate. The last large outbreak was in 1992 with 3,000 cases recorded," the WHO said.
Zimbabwean rights groups estimate that up to 1,000 people have died from the disease. The water delivery system has broken down in Harare and other cities, forcing residents to drink from contaminated wells and streams.
Hundreds of Zimbabweans are crossing the South African border each day to seek treatment, Tsvangirai's Movement for Democratic Change said in a statement. It called on Mugabe's government to declare a national disaster.
The European Commission said it would send aid, as European development commissioner Louis Michel urged the government to allow full assistance into Zimbabwe.
