Maputo — So far this rainy season, 317 cases of cholera have been diagnosed in Maputo city, but nobody in the Mozambican capital has yet died of the disease.

According to the Maputo City chief doctor, Maria Benigna, cited in Friday's issue of the independent daily "O Pais", the first case in the current outbreak was diagnosed on 12 October. She said that the cholera situation is under control and that there is no reason for alarm.

A cholera treatment centre (CTC) was reopened in the Mavalane general hospital on 17 December. Benigna said that currently 55 people are hospitalized there. Recently the CTC has been received 15-20 patients a day, and the trend is for the number of new cases to decline.

The main causes for the spread of cholera, Beningna said, is poor personal hygiene, and bad sanitation in various Maputo neighbourhoods. Most of the cases have been reported from densely populated, poor neighbourhoods such as Chmaculo, Mavalane and Polana-Canico.

Ministry of Health data indicate that over the past 10 months there were about 3,000 cholera cases in eight of Mozambique's 11 provinces, resulting in 50 deaths.