</s>Johannesburg -- The number of cholera cases among survivors of a devastating cyclone in central Mozambique has jumped to 139, officials have said. Nearly 1 million vaccine doses were being rushed to the region.

The Portuguese news agency Lusa reported the number late Thursday, citing national health official Ussein Isse, who had declared the outbreak a day earlier with just five confirmed cases.

Cholera is a major concern for hundreds of thousands of survivors now living in squalid conditions in camps, schools and sodden homes. The disease is spread by contaminated food and water, causes acute diarrhea and can kill within hours if not treated with oral rehydration solution or intravenous fluids in severe cases.

The World Health Organization has warned of a "second disaster" if waterborne diseases like cholera spread. On Tuesday it said 900,000 oral cholera vaccines were on their way.

"You can imagine how much we are sitting on a water and sanitation ticking time bomb," the secretary-general of the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies, Elhadj As Sy, told The Associated Press last week after visiting a school where 3,000 survivors were sheltering with only six toilets between them.

Some of the hardest-hit communities remained cut off from aid 15 days after Cyclone Idai roared in.

Climate change's role in severe storms and extreme flooding

They are relying on heavily polluted water, the International Committee of the Red Cross said Friday, adding that clear water and medical supplies are urgently needed.

Even in the port city of Beira, the hub of international relief efforts, some of its 500,000 residents have resorted to drinking stagnant water by the side of the road, increasing the chances of diarrhea, the medical charity Doctors Without Borders has said. Others are drinking from contaminated wells.

The aid group has seen hundreds of cases of acute watery diarrhea this week.

The death toll in Mozambique is now at least 468, with at least 259 dead in Zimbabwe and 56 in Malawi. Officials have warned that those numbers are preliminary and final figures may never be known. Some bodies have been found and buried without being registered with authorities. Others were washed away.

As the floodwaters continue to drain, more bodies are expected to be found.

A patient with severe diarrhea is treated in a tent at Macurungo urban health center in Beira, Mozambique, amid a cholera outbreak in the wake of Cyclone Idai, March 27, 2019. Getty

Mozambique President Filipe Nyusi on Thursday announced that the search and rescue phase had ended. He also declared that health care would be free for residents in cyclone-hit areas until the end of the year, Lusa reported.

The United Nations has said some 1.8 million people need urgent help across the sodden, largely rural region. Hunger is another growing concern, as the storm wiped out crops on the eve of harvest.

Officials have found a slender hope in the weather report, which appears free of rain for the next several days.</s>Officials in cyclone-stricken Mozambique say the number of cases of cholera has skyrocketed from five Wednesday to 139 by late Thursday.

Cholera is a bacterial disease spread by contaminated food or drinking water. It causes severe diarrhea and subsequent dehydration, and can kill within hours if not treated.

Squalid living conditions — contaminated water and lack of sanitation — in the country following Cyclone Idai are the perfect breeding grounds for the spread of the disease.

The World Health Organization said earlier this week that it is sending 900,000 cholera vaccines to the region.

AFP, the French news agency, reports that a cholera prevention publicity campaign has been mounted via radio and loudspeakers throughout affected towns and villages.

UNICEF has warned there is “very little time to prevent the spread of opportunistic diseases.”

Cyclone Idai clobbered most of Mozambique nearly two weeks ago with hurricane-force winds and heavy rains.

It also walloped eastern Zimbabwe and Malawi.</s>JOHANNESBURG — Cholera cases in Mozambique among survivors of a devastating cyclone have shot up to 139, officials said, as nearly 1 million vaccine doses were rushed to the region and health workers desperately tried to improvise treatment space for victims.

Cholera causes acute diarrhea, is spread by contaminated food and water and can kill within hours if not treated. The disease is a major concern for the hundreds of thousands of cyclone survivors in the southern African nation now living in squalid conditions in camps, schools or damaged homes.

The Portuguese news agency Lusa quoted Mozambique national health official Ussein Isse for the new toll. Isse declared the outbreak on Wednesday with just five confirmed cases.

Far more cholera cases already were feared. The medical charity Doctors Without Borders told The Associated Press it is seeing around 200 likely cholera cases a day in the Indian Ocean port city of Beira alone. The city of some 500,000 people is the hub of cyclone relief efforts.

The World Health Organization has warned of a “second disaster” if waterborne diseases like cholera spread in the impoverished nation. It said 900,000 oral cholera vaccines were expected to arrive Monday and a vaccination campaign will begin late next week.

WHO also has opened seven treatment centers with a total of 400 beds, including 100 in Beira.

“We assume that there are lots of people who will get sick and we want to get prepared,” spokesman Tarik Jasarevic told reporters in Geneva.

Cyclone Idai, which stuck March 14, destroyed more than 50 health care clinics in central Mozambique, complicating the work to contain the disease, Radio Mozambique cited disaster management official Rui Costa as saying.

It is not yet clear whether any cholera deaths have been confirmed.

“We’re not going to test every single case (for cholera) because it’s not difficult to recognize when you look at the diarrhea of a patient. Once you see it once, you always recognize it,” Gert Verdonck, Doctors Without Borders’ emergency coordinator for Beira, told the AP.

Other suspected cholera cases are outside Beira in the badly hit areas of Buzi, Tica and Nhamathanda, he said, but the chance of spreading in rural areas is smaller because people are more dispersed.

In urban areas, however, cholera “can have a huge impact if not contained quickly,” Verdonck said. He said the 900,000 vaccine doses should be enough to cover targeted areas but that a second dose should be given after two weeks to strengthen protection.

The speed of the outbreak came as a surprise, he said. Earlier this week workers found 40 to 50 people with acute diarrhea at a health center in Munhava, one of Beira’s poorest neighborhoods.

“We had to improvise,” he said. Without space for the usual treatment setup of beds with holes and buckets underneath, they carved holes in plastic chairs instead for patients with enough strength to sit upright.

Outside, nails were pounded into walls to hand IV drips to rehydrate patients.

“You cannot wait to have a nice five-star tent,” Verdonck said. “We tried to go as quickly as possible.”

Cholera is not difficult to treat but the treatment needs to occur as early as possible, he said.

The cyclone badly damaged Beira’s water supply, adding to the city’s cholera risks. Some people have resorted to drinking stagnant water by the side of the road, increasing the chances of diarrhea. Others are drinking water from contaminated wells.

Some of the hardest-hit communities remain cut off from aid 15 days after the cyclone, and people are relying on heavily polluted water, the International Committee of the Red Cross said.

“You can imagine how much we are sitting on a water and sanitation ticking time bomb,” the secretary-general of the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies, Elhadj As Sy, told the AP after visiting a school where 3,000 survivors had only six toilets to use.

The cyclone death toll in Mozambique inched up to 493 on Friday, with at least 259 dead in Zimbabwe and 56 in Malawi. Officials have warned that those numbers are preliminary and final figures may never be known. Some bodies have been found and buried without being registered with authorities. Others were washed away by the power of the storm.

Officials in Zimbabwe have not announced any cholera cases in the country’s cyclone-hit region.

Mozambique President Filipe Nyusi has said the search and rescue phase has ended. He also declared that health care will be free for residents in cyclone-hit areas until the end of the year, Lusa reported.

The United Nations has said some 1.8 million people need urgent help across the sodden, largely rural region. Hunger is another growing concern, as the storm wiped out crops on the eve of harvest.

Officials have found a slender hope in the weather report, which appears free of rain for the next several days.

READ MORE: How to help cyclone victims in Mozambique, Malawi and Zimbabwe</s>BEIRA, Mozambique (Reuters) - The number of confirmed cases of cholera in the cyclone-hit Mozambican port city of Beira jumped from five to 138 on Friday, as government and aid agencies battled to contain the spread of disease among the tens of thousands of victims of the storm.

Cyclone Idai smashed into Beira on March 14, causing catastrophic flooding and killing more than 700 people across three countries in southeast Africa.

Many badly affected areas in Mozambique and Zimbabwe are still inaccessible by road, complicating relief efforts and exacerbating the threat of infection.

Although there have been no confirmed cholera deaths in medical centers in Mozambique yet, at least two people died outside hospitals with symptoms including dehydration and diarrhea, the country’s environment minister Celso Correia said.

A Reuters reporter saw the body of a dead child being brought out of an emergency clinic in Beira on Wednesday. The child had suffered acute diarrhea, which can be a symptom of cholera.

“We expected this, we were prepared for this, we’ve doctors in place,” Correia told reporters.

The government said for the first time that there had been confirmed cholera cases on Wednesday.

Mozambique’s National Disaster Management Institute said the local death toll from the tropical storm had increased to 493 people, from 468 previously.

That takes the total death toll across Mozambique, Zimbabwe and Malawi to 738 people, with many more still missing.

“Stranded communities are relying on heavily polluted water. This, combined with widespread flooding and poor sanitation, creates fertile grounds for disease outbreaks, including cholera,” the International Committee of the Red Cross said in a statement.

In Geneva, the World Health Organization’s Tarik Jasarevic said 900,000 doses of oral cholera vaccine were expected to arrive on Monday.

Cholera is endemic to Mozambique, which has had regular outbreaks over the past five years. About 2,000 people were infected in the last outbreak, which ended in February 2018, according to the WHO.

But the scale of the damage to Beira’s water and sanitation infrastructure, coupled with its dense population, have raised fears that another epidemic would be difficult to put down.</s>JOHANNESBURG -- Officials in Mozambique say the number of cholera cases among survivors of a devastating cyclone has jumped to 139.

The Portuguese news agency Lusa cites national health official Ussein Isse in a report late Thursday.

The cholera outbreak had been declared a day earlier with just five confirmed cases.

Cholera is a major concern for hundreds of thousands of survivors now living in squalid conditions. The disease is spread by contaminated food and water, causes acute diarrhea and can kill within hours if not treated with oral rehydration solution or intravenous fluids in severe cases.

The World Health Organization has warned of a "second disaster" if waterborne diseases like cholera spread in the devastated region. On Tuesday it said 900,000 oral cholera vaccines were on their way to the region.</s>BEIRA — The number of confirmed cases of cholera in the cyclone-hit Mozambican port city of Beira jumped from five to 138 yesterday, as government and aid agencies battled to contain the spread of disease among the tens of thousands of victims of the storm.

Cyclone Idai smashed into Beira on March 14, causing catastrophic flooding and killing more than 700 people across three countries in southeast Africa.

Many badly affected areas in Mozambique and Zimbabwe are still inaccessible by road, complicating relief efforts and exacerbating the threat of infection.

Although there have been no confirmed cholera deaths in medical centres in Mozambique yet, at least two people died outside hospitals with symptoms including dehydration and diarrhoea, the country’s Environment minister Celso Correia said.

A Reuters reporter saw the body of a dead child being brought out of an emergency clinic in Beira on Wednesday. The child had suffered acute diarrhoea, which can be a symptom of cholera.

“We expected this, we were prepared for this, we’ve doctors in place,” Correia said.

The government said, for the first time, there had been confirmed cholera cases on Wednesday.

Mozambique’s National Disaster Management Institute said the local death toll from the tropical storm had increased to 493 people, from 468 previously.

That takes the total death toll across Mozambique, Zimbabwe and Malawi to 738 people, with many more still missing.

“Stranded communities are relying on heavily polluted water. This, combined with widespread flooding and poor sanitation, creates fertile grounds for disease outbreaks, including cholera,” the International Committee of the Red Cross said in a statement.

In Geneva, the World Health Organisation’s Tarik Jasarevic said 900 000 doses of oral cholera vaccine were expected to arrive on Monday.</s>The federal government has charged Facebook with high-tech housing discrimination for allegedly misusing its vaunted ability to deliver ads with surgical precision to certain groups and not others

The federal government has charged Facebook with high-tech housing discrimination for allegedly misusing its vaunted ability to deliver ads with surgical precision to certain groups and not others

In the "Underwater Homeowners Association," neighbors become climate-change advocates by focusing attention on the future of real estate in flood-prone Miami

In the "Underwater Homeowners Association," neighbors become climate-change advocates by focusing attention on the future of real estate in flood-prone Miami

A University of Michigan professor has launched an initiative aimed at bringing attention to a 1994 U.S. immigration policy that he believes has contributed to the deaths of thousands of migrants who tried entering the country through the Sonoran desert

A University of Michigan professor has launched an initiative aimed at bringing attention to a 1994 U.S. immigration policy that he believes has contributed to the deaths of thousands of migrants who tried entering the country through the Sonoran desert

A former University of Oklahoma student alleges he was touched and kissed inappropriately by former school President David Boren almost a decade ago, when he was Boren's teaching aide.

A former University of Oklahoma student alleges he was touched and kissed inappropriately by former school President David Boren almost a decade ago, when he was Boren's teaching aide.

(AP Photo/Sue Ogrocki, File). FILE - In this Sept. 20, 2017, file photo, University of Oklahoma President David Boren, a former Democratic governor and U.S. senator, speaks at a news conference in Norman, Okla. The allegations by Jess Eddy, a former Un...

(AP Photo/Sue Ogrocki, File). FILE - In this Sept. 20, 2017, file photo, University of Oklahoma President David Boren, a former Democratic governor and U.S. senator, speaks at a news conference in Norman, Okla. The allegations by Jess Eddy, a former Un...

(AP Photo/Sue Ogrocki, File). FILE - In this Sept. 20, 2017, file photo, University of Oklahoma President David Boren, a former Democratic governor and U.S. senator, speaks at a news conference in Norman, Okla. The allegations by Jess Eddy, a former Un...

(AP Photo/Sue Ogrocki, File). FILE - In this Sept. 20, 2017, file photo, University of Oklahoma President David Boren, a former Democratic governor and U.S. senator, speaks at a news conference in Norman, Okla. The allegations by Jess Eddy, a former Un...

A woman has pleaded guilty in the 2016 rape, murder and dismemberment of her 14-year-old daughter outside Philadelphia.

A woman has pleaded guilty in the 2016 rape, murder and dismemberment of her 14-year-old daughter outside Philadelphia.

(Bucks County District Attorney via AP). FILE - This photo provided by the Bucks County District Attorney on Jan. 8, 2017 shows Sara Packer. On Friday, March 29, 2019, she is set to plead guilty in the 2016 rape, murder and dismemberment of her 14-year...

(Bucks County District Attorney via AP). FILE - This photo provided by the Bucks County District Attorney on Jan. 8, 2017 shows Sara Packer. On Friday, March 29, 2019, she is set to plead guilty in the 2016 rape, murder and dismemberment of her 14-year...

(Bucks County District Attorney via AP). FILE - This photo provided by the Bucks County District Attorney on Jan. 8, 2017 shows Sara Packer. On Friday, March 29, 2019, she is set to plead guilty in the 2016 rape, murder and dismemberment of her 14-year...

(Bucks County District Attorney via AP). FILE - This photo provided by the Bucks County District Attorney on Jan. 8, 2017 shows Sara Packer. On Friday, March 29, 2019, she is set to plead guilty in the 2016 rape, murder and dismemberment of her 14-year...

Watchful eyes now turn to Georgia's Republican Gov. Brian Kemp, wondering when he might sign a "heartbeat" abortion ban that he supported and helped push through.

Watchful eyes now turn to Georgia's Republican Gov. Brian Kemp, wondering when he might sign a "heartbeat" abortion ban that he supported and helped push through.

(Alyssa Pointer/Atlanta Journal-Constitution via AP, File). File-This March 22, 2019, file photo shows, pro-abortion rights and anti-abortion demonstrators displaying their signs in the lobby of the Georgia State Capitol building during the 35th legisl...

(Alyssa Pointer/Atlanta Journal-Constitution via AP, File). File-This March 22, 2019, file photo shows, pro-abortion rights and anti-abortion demonstrators displaying their signs in the lobby of the Georgia State Capitol building during the 35th legisl...

(Alyssa Pointer/Atlanta Journal-Constitution via AP, File). File-This March 22, 2019, file photo shows, pro-abortion rights and anti-abortion demonstrators displaying their signs in the lobby of the Georgia State Capitol building during the 35th legisl...

(Alyssa Pointer/Atlanta Journal-Constitution via AP, File). File-This March 22, 2019, file photo shows, pro-abortion rights and anti-abortion demonstrators displaying their signs in the lobby of the Georgia State Capitol building during the 35th legisl...

(AP Photo/Themba Hadebe). Submerged huts near Beira, Mozambique, Thursday, March 28, 2019. The first cases of cholera have been confirmed in the cyclone-ravaged city of Beira, Mozambican authorities announced on Wednesday, raising the stakes in an alre...

(AP Photo/Themba Hadebe). A man pushes his bicycle past submerged huts near Beira, Mozambique, Thursday, March 28, 2019. The first cases of cholera have been confirmed in the cyclone-ravaged city of Beira, Mozambican authorities announced on Wednesday,...

(AP Photo/Themba Hadebe). Community members assist a doctor carrying boxes with medical supplies as he runs towards the South African Defence Forces helicopter after assisting a community affected by a cyclone near Beira, Mozambique, Thursday, March 28...

(AP Photo/Themba Hadebe). A house surrounded by flood water near Beira, Mozambique, Thursday, March 28, 2019. The first cases of cholera have been confirmed in the cyclone-ravaged city of Beira, Mozambican authorities announced on Wednesday, raising th...

JOHANNESBURG (AP) - Cholera cases in Mozambique among survivors of a devastating cyclone have shot up to 139, officials said, as nearly 1 million vaccine doses were rushed to the region and health workers desperately tried to improvise treatment space for victims.

Cholera causes acute diarrhea, is spread by contaminated food and water and can kill within hours if not treated. The disease is a major concern for the hundreds of thousands of cyclone survivors in the southern African nation now living in squalid conditions in camps, schools or damaged homes.

The Portuguese news agency Lusa quoted Mozambique national health official Ussein Isse for the new toll. Isse declared the outbreak on Wednesday with just five confirmed cases.

Far more cholera cases already were feared. The medical charity Doctors Without Borders told The Associated Press it is seeing around 200 likely cholera cases a day in the Indian Ocean port city of Beira alone. The city of some 500,000 people is the hub of cyclone relief efforts.

The World Health Organization has warned of a "second disaster" if waterborne diseases like cholera spread in the impoverished nation. It said 900,000 oral cholera vaccines were expected to arrive Monday and a vaccination campaign will begin late next week.

WHO also has opened seven treatment centers with a total of 400 beds, including 100 in Beira.

"We assume that there are lots of people who will get sick and we want to get prepared," spokesman Tarik Jasarevic told reporters in Geneva.

Health workers are treating every case of diarrhea as though it were cholera, Sebastian Rhodes Stampa, the deputy U.N. humanitarian coordinator for Mozambique, told reporters. While cholera is endemic to the region, "when it does break out, it breaks out fast and it travels extremely fast," he said, stressing the need to strengthen disease surveillance.

Cyclone Idai, which stuck March 14, destroyed more than 50 health care clinics in central Mozambique, complicating the work to contain the disease, Radio Mozambique cited disaster management official Rui Costa as saying.

It is not yet clear whether any cholera deaths have been confirmed.

"We're not going to test every single case (for cholera) because it's not difficult to recognize when you look at the diarrhea of a patient. Once you see it once, you always recognize it," Gert Verdonck, Doctors Without Borders' emergency coordinator for Beira, told the AP.

Other suspected cholera cases are outside Beira in the badly hit areas of Buzi, Tica and Nhamathanda, he said, but the chance of spreading in rural areas is smaller because people are more dispersed.

In urban areas, however, cholera "can have a huge impact if not contained quickly," Verdonck said. He said the 900,000 vaccine doses should be enough to cover targeted areas but that a second dose should be given after two weeks to strengthen protection.

The speed of the outbreak came as a surprise, he said. Earlier this week workers found 40 to 50 people with acute diarrhea at a health center in Munhava, one of Beira's poorest neighborhoods.

"We had to improvise," he said. Without space for the usual treatment setup of beds with holes and buckets underneath, they carved holes in plastic chairs instead for patients with enough strength to sit upright.

Outside, nails were pounded into walls to hand IV drips to rehydrate patients.

"You cannot wait to have a nice five-star tent," Verdonck said. "We tried to go as quickly as possible."

Cholera is not difficult to treat but the treatment needs to occur as early as possible, he said.

The cyclone badly damaged Beira's water supply, adding to the city's cholera risks. Some people have resorted to drinking stagnant water by the side of the road, increasing the chances of diarrhea. Others are drinking water from contaminated wells.

Some of the hardest-hit communities remain cut off from aid 15 days after the cyclone, and people are relying on heavily polluted water, the International Committee of the Red Cross said.

"You can imagine how much we are sitting on a water and sanitation ticking time bomb," the secretary-general of the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies, Elhadj As Sy, told the AP after visiting a school where 3,000 survivors had only six toilets to use.

The cyclone death toll in Mozambique inched up to 493 on Friday, with at least 259 dead in Zimbabwe and 56 in Malawi. Officials have warned that those numbers are preliminary and final figures may never be known. Some bodies have been found and buried without being registered with authorities. Others were washed away by the power of the storm.

Officials in Zimbabwe have not announced any cholera cases in the country's cyclone-hit region.

Mozambique President Filipe Nyusi has said the search and rescue phase has ended. He also declared that health care will be free for residents in cyclone-hit areas until the end of the year, Lusa reported.

The United Nations has said some 1.8 million people need urgent help across the sodden, largely rural region. Hunger is another growing concern, as the storm wiped out crops on the eve of harvest.

Officials have found a slender hope in the weather report, which appears free of rain for the next several days.

Associated Press writers Jamey Keaten in Geneva, Farai Mutsaka in Harare, Zimbabwe, and Edith M. Lederer at the United Nations contributed to this report.

Copyright 2019 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.</s>Mozambique says cholera cases up to 271 in cyclone-hit city

JOHANNESBURG (AP) — Cholera cases among cyclone survivors in Mozambique have jumped to 271, authorities said, a figure that nearly doubled from the previous day.

The Portuguese news agency Lusa cited national health director Ussein Isse, who declared the outbreak of the acute diarrheal disease on Wednesday with just five cases.

So far no cholera deaths have been confirmed, the report said. Another Lusa report said the death toll in central Mozambique from the cyclone that hit on March 14 had inched up to 501. Authorities have warned the toll is highly preliminary as flood waters recede and reveal more bodies.

The cholera cases have been discovered in the port city of Beira, whose half-million residents and especially those in crowded, poor neighborhoods are at particular risk.

Doctors Without Borders has said it is seeing some 200 likely cholera cases per day in the city, where relief workers are hurrying to restore the damaged water system and bring in additional medical assistance.

The World Health Organization has said some 900,000 cholera vaccine doses are expected to arrive on Monday, with a vaccination campaign starting later in the week.

Cholera is spread by contaminated food and water and can kill within hours if not treated. The disease is a major concern for the hundreds of thousands of cyclone survivors in the southern African nation now living in squalid conditions in camps, schools or damaged homes. Some drink from contaminated wells or filthy, stagnant water.

As health responders stress the need for better disease surveillance, the United Nations' deputy humanitarian coordinator in Mozambique, Sebastian Rhodes Stampa, has said all cases of diarrhea are being treated as though they are cholera.

Cholera is endemic to the region, and "it breaks out fast and it travels extremely fast," he told reporters on Friday.

Doctors Without Borders has said other suspected cholera cases have been reported outside Beira in the badly hit areas of Buzi, Tica and Nhamathanda but the chance of spread in rural areas is smaller because people are more dispersed.

Mozambican officials have said Cyclone Idai destroyed more than 50 health centers in the region, complicating response efforts.

The cyclone also killed at least 259 people in Zimbabwe and 56 in Malawi.

The United Nations has said some 1.8 million people need urgent help across the sodden, largely rural region.</s>, BEIRA, Mozambique, Mar 27 – Five cases of cholera have been confirmed in Mozambique following the cyclone that ravaged the country killing at least 468 people, a government health official said Wednesday.

Cyclone Idai smashed into Mozambique on March 15, unleashing hurricane-force winds and heavy rains that flooded much of the centre of the poor southern African country and then battered eastern Zimbabwe and Malawi.

The Red Cross has previously warned of a “ticking bomb of disease” and called for the deployment of medicines and health professionals to avert a full-blown health disaster.

“We have five cases of cholera which have been confirmed. This is in Beira and the area around,” the health official, Ussein Isse, told journalists, referring to the port city that bore the brunt of the cyclone’s force.

Cholera, a waterborne disease that thrives in conditions of poor hygiene, causes acute diarrhoea that can prove fatal if untreated.

“We were expecting cholera cases and we were prepared for this. We have put all the measures in place to try to mitigate the spread of cholera as much as we can,” said Emma Batey, a coordinator at the COSACA emergency aid consortium.

Stagnant water, decomposing bodies and lack of sanitation in overcrowded shelters in Mozambique could create breeding grounds for typhus and malaria in addition to cholera, experts say.

COSACA said further heavy rains “would complicate the situation”.

“There will be more cases because cholera is epidemic. When you have one case you can expect more. We are implementing preventive measures to limit the impact,” Isse said.

In Beira’s morgue, 90 percent of those killed by the cyclone and its aftermath had been identified and collected by their families.

“We’ve had a lot of work in the past week, it’s been very hard,” said morgue official Manuel Girimoyo, who added that around 50 bodies remained unidentified.

UN humanitarian aid chief Mark Lowcock has appealed for $282 million (250 million euros) of relief aid over the next three months for Mozambique.

The Un’s World Food Programme (WAP) said roughly 3,125 square kilometres (1,200 square miles) of land had been swamped.

About 400,000 hectares of crops – primarily maize – were washed away just weeks before the main April–May harvest, it said.

Nearly three million people across Mozambique, Malawi and Zimbabwe have been affected, according to the WFP, and 500,000 displaced.

More than 700 people have been killed in Mozambique and Zimbabwe and hundreds are missing, according to an AFP toll compiled from figures provided by governments and UN agencies.

The International Organisation for Migration has said that Cyclone Idai and its aftermath “could rank as the worst disaster to hit the region in decades”.

“In Beira city… they have five cases of malaria and 100 cases of diarrhoea. Soon we’ll have more updates, but they are still receiving other (patients),” Isse said.

“So they are taking precautions of isolating those who have diarrhoea… so it cannot spread.”

A long line of women in bright dresses waited under the baking sun in Estaquinha, 80 kilometres (50 miles) west of Beira, to receive emergency supplies from South African NGO Gift of the Givers on Tuesday.

Environment Minister Celso Correia said around 170,000 people were living in government relief camps but stressed that conditions were improving.

“Most of them already have doctors there and clean water and other means of assistance. The situation is getting better,” he said alongside Isse at the media briefing.

Roads made impassable by floodwaters and debris are gradually being unblocked.
In the aftermath of Cyclone Idai, those infected by cholera jump to 139 confirmed cases in Mozambique.