Cholera kills dozens of Burundian refugees in Tanzania

‘Thirty-one people, mostly Burundian refugees, have lost their lives to cholera outbreak in Tanzania since last week, the UN says.

The deaths, “two locals and 29 refugees”, were reported in the port town of Kigoma on Lake Tanganyika, in the nearby villages of Kagunga and Nyarugusu, and among the people on ferries en route from Kagunga to Kigoma, the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees said on Friday.

“The epidemic is still worsening. To date some 3,000 cases have been reported, and numbers are increasing at 300-400 new cases per day, particularly in Kagunga and nearby areas,” said Arian Edwards, the agency’s spokesperson, speaking to journalists in Geneva.’

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