The City of Bulawayo is grappling with an outbreak of diarrhoea in several suburbs, with more than 1 200 cases recorded to date.
Speaking in an interview with NewZimbabwe.com, council corporate communications manager, Nesisa Mpofu, said the first cases of diarrhoea were recorded in the Pumula suburb but the disease has since spread across the city. Said Mpofu:
As of 06 September 2022, we have 1 213 cumulative cases reported. The first cases of diarrhoea were reported in July in ward 17 and have now spread to Nkulumane, Emakhandeni and Northern suburbs clinics.
Affected suburbs include Pumula, Luveve, Nkulumane, Mzilikazi, and Tshabalala.
Mpofu said the council has come up with several interventions to combat the illness and stop it from spreading. She said:
The City of Bulawayo is implementing a robust, context-specific emergency response mechanism that includes some of the following interventions; Active case finding, contact tracing, Health education, risk assessment, and waiver of BCC clinic charges on outbreak mode among others.
Recently, the City of Bulawayo dismissed social media rumours that the city’s water was contaminated with sewage and not safe for consumption.
Meanwhile, Bulawayo is facing a water crisis with 72hours of water shedding or even longer.
On Friday, the council decommissioned Umzingwane Dam due to critically low water levels which have receded to just 6.6 per cent.