Updated on
Summary
The death toll from the cholera outbreak in Haiti has reached 643 with just under 10,000 cases of the disease reported, the United Nations says. At least 10,000 people suffering from cholera are in hospitals across the country. Doctors in Port-au-Prince say they are alarmed at the speed at which new cases are emerging. A senior health ministry official said the epidemic was now a matter of national security. About 170 people are now being treated in hospitals in the city, according to the Pan-American Health Organisation (Paho). One person has died.Paho has warned that there is a real risk of the epidemic crossing the border into the neighbouring Dominican Republic.The organisation says that trying to educate the population about prevention and treatment of the disease, thereby reducing the fatality rate of the disease in the Caribbean country, remains a priority.The disease broke out in the Artibonite River valley in central Haiti in mid-October and initially seemed to have been contained, but cases have since soared.
