Mozambique is currently facing a growing cholera outbreak that is adding to the devastation left by Cyclone Freddy, which hit the country twice. The U.N. Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs reported over 19,000 confirmed cases of cholera across eight provinces in Mozambique as of March 27, a number that had almost doubled in a week.
Freddy was one of the longest-lived cyclones ever, lasting over five weeks, killing 165 people in Mozambique, 17 in Madagascar, and 676 in Malawi, with over 530 people still missing in Malawi. The tropical storm made its second landfall in Zambezia province, where scores of villages remain flooded and water supplies are still contaminated.
In Quelimane, Zambezia’s provincial capital, there were reportedly 600 new confirmed cases of cholera per day in Quelimane district alone, and the real number may be as high as 1,000. The Ministry of Health reported that at least 31 people have died of cholera in Zambezia and over 3,200 were hospitalized between March 15 and 29.
Most of the cases were reported in Icidua on the outskirts of the city, where residents fetch water in buckets from communal wells. Floods have contaminated many of these wells with sewage overflow and other sources of bacteria. Health workers are struggling to treat the infected with many clinics and hospitals badly damaged by the cyclone. While Cyclone Freddy hasn't yet been attributed to climate change, researchers say it has all the hallmarks of a warming-fueled weather event.