UN: Nearly 600 people killed by Cholera in Yemen since late April

The United Nations says the cholera outbreak in war-torn Yemen has claimed the lives of nearly 600 people in about a month amid a deadly Saudi military campaign against the impoverished Arab country.

 

The United Nations says the cholera outbreak in war-torn Yemen has claimed the lives of nearly 600 people in about a month amid a deadly Saudi military campaign against the impoverished Arab country.

“In just over one month, close to 70,000 cholera cases were reported with nearly 600 fatalities,” said UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF) Regional Director Geert Cappelaere on Friday, following a trip to the crisis-hit country.

He added that the spread of the highly contagious disease “is incredibly fast” in the country, making the already dire situation for children “a disaster.”  

“Countless children around Yemen die every day in silence from causes that can easily be prevented or treated like cholera, diarrhea or malnutrition,” he further said, warning that the number of suspected cholera-hit cases would likely reach 130,000 within the next two weeks.