JOHANNESBURG (AFP) — The death toll from a cholera outbreak in South Africa has risen to 15, with more than 2,100 cases registered in a spillover from Zimbabwe's epidemic, the health ministry said Wednesday.
"The latest figure we have is that cholera has so far claimed 15 lives across the country and we have recorded more than 2,000 cases. Death toll at the end of last month was nine," health ministry spokesman Fidel Hadebe told AFP.
"Most of deaths were recorded in Limpopo Province," neighbouring Zimbabwe, he said.
Zimbabwe's cholera epidemic has killed more than 2,100 people since August with the number of diagnosed cases reaching almost 40,000, the UN said Wednesday, warning the health crisis is "not under control".
The US-based group Physicians for Human Rights called for Zimbabwe's President Robert Mugabe to be charged with crimes against humanity over rights abuses and the collapse of the nation's health system.
South African health official Frew Benson said Wednesday that poor sanitation and lack of access to clean water was contributing to the spead of the disease in South Africa.
"Not 100 percent of our people have potable water. Only 89 percent have access to safe water supply," he said on public radio.
Cholera deaths have also been recorded in the other countries which share a border with Zimbabwe -- Botswana, Mozambique and Zambia.
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