The health authorities in Nacala Porto, in Nampula province, declared this Thursday that there has been an outbreak of cholera in the region, with one death and 157 cases of the disease.

"At the moment the district of Nacala Porto is suffering from an outbreak of cholera. We have 32 patients hospitalized" at the Nacala Porto General Hospital, Celma Xavier, the provincial chief doctor in Nampula, told the media.

Nampula has been registering increasing cases of diarrhea and vomiting for two weeks and the Nacala Porto General Hospital receives an average of 15 patients a day. Nampula is the eighth province in the country to declare a cholera outbreak.

According to the official, "rapid response teams have been activated and tents have been set up in the hospital" to deal with the disease.

In addition to Nacala Porto, the authorities are on alert in the districts of Malema, Murrupula, Moma and Liúpo due to the "increase in cases of diarrhea" recorded in those districts, said the chief medical officer.

At least 1.2 million people have been vaccinated against the disease in the provinces of Zambézia, Manica and Sofala, in the center of the country, which corresponds to 100% of the target, according to the Ministry of Health (MISAU).

A total of 111 people have died and another 16,374 have been hospitalized due to cholera since September 2022 in Mozambique, according to the latest data from the MoH.

Since September, Mozambique has registered a cumulative 24,516 cases of the disease, 441 of which were registered in the last 24 hours, according to an update from the National Directorate of Public Health.

The provinces of Niassa, Tete, Sofala and Zambézia are among the most affected by the disease, whose lethality rate stands at 0.4%, according to health data.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (Africa CDC) of the African Union (AU) called on Thursday for the "support" of the international community to combat the outbreaks of cholera in Mozambique and Malawi, recently aggravated by the impacts of tropical cyclone Freddy.