The cholera outbreak in Zambia has claimed 518 lives since October, Zambian Health Minister Sylvia Masebo announced on Wednesday, forcing the second postponement of the start of the school year.

Zambia, which borders Angola, has been facing an increased cholera outbreak since October 2023 and is experiencing its worst epidemic since 2011.

According to a report in Correio da Manhã, the start of the school year was initially scheduled for January 8, but last week the government postponed it for the first time to January 29 and this Wednesday, due to the growing number of cholera cases, the Minister of Education, Douglas Syakalima, announced at a press conference a second postponement, now to February 12.

Cholera is an acute form of diarrhea that, without treatment, can kill in a few hours and is transmitted by contaminated water or food.

According to the Zambian Minister of Health, the total number of deaths since October is 518, including six in the last 24 hours.

In mid-January, Zambia received its first batch of more than one million oral doses of cholera vaccine from the World Health Organization (WHO).

On Tuesday, Angola set an alert level of 2, out of a maximum of 3, due to the cholera epidemic in the neighboring Democratic Republic of Congo (DRCongo) and Zambia.