Six patients died of cholera this Sunday (23) in Nampula province, bringing to 36 the number of fatalities caused by the outbreak that broke out last October in the Mogovolas district.

Quoted by the Mozambican Information Agency (AIM), the provincial health director, Selma Xavier, said that the most recent deaths occurred in the districts of Larde (3) and the same number in Murrupula.

In addition to Angoche, cholera is currently ravaging the districts of Murrupula, Mogovolas, Larde and the provincial capital Nampula. The cumulative number of patients has risen to 1,772, according to the AIM publication.

Earlier reports put the number of deaths at 30, with 29 in the Mogovolas district, where four health facilities were closed due to vandalism and destruction, as well as harassment of health workers.

Last week, alleged protesters destroyed two elementary school in the coastal district of Larde, one in Topuito and the other in Pilivi, (Moma), including the burning of free school books, for allegedly transmitting cholera, known as the disease of dirty hands.

The health authorities point to poor water supply coverage, poor sanitation, non-compliance with basic individual and collective hygiene measures and misinformation about the origin of the disease as risk factors.