Zambian Health Minister, Elijah Muchima, said 104,585 people have received doses of the oral cholera vaccine in Chililabombwe, Zambia’s hardest-hit district in Copperbelt Province, in the latest cholera outbreak.

Mr Muchima said the number represents 81 per cent of the targeted population of 129,837.

According to the minister, the vaccination campaign, which started last Friday, was being conducted in partnership with stakeholders such as the World Health Organisation, the United Nations Children’s Fund, and the Red Cross.

“With enhanced measures in place and all line ministries putting their hands on deck, we are confident that the cholera outbreak will be contained soonest,’’ he told a press briefing Monday. Other measures include the installation of water tanks and the provision of treated water for handwashing at strategic points. There are also plans to drill eight boreholes in strategic zones, the minister said.

Copperbelt Province, battling the cholera outbreak since January, had recorded 206 cases as of February 9, out of the cumulative national total of 238 cases, according to data from the Ministry of Health.

All eight recorded deaths occurred in Copperbelt Province.

(Xinhua/NAN)