Cholera spread forces Zambia to postpone schools reopening by another 2 weeks

By James Kunda

LUSAKA, Zambia (AA) – Zambia announced on Wednesday that schools would remain closed for another two weeks and would reopen on Feb. 12 due to the spread of cholera throughout the country, particularly in the capital Lusaka.

The reopening of schools was set on Jan. 8, but the cholera outbreak forced authorities to postpone it until Jan. 29.

"In view of the of cholera cases which have spread to other parts of the country, the national disaster management and mitigation council of ministers at a meeting held this morning, the Ministry of Education was advised to further postpone the opening date to Feb. 12," Education Minister Douglas Syakalima told reporters in Lusaka.

Zambia has recorded 13, 686 cholera cases since the outbreak in October last year, with 518 deaths and 12,365 recoveries, according to the Health Ministry.

It added that 801 patients are still being treated in hospitals as of Wednesday.

The Southern African nation has also managed to vaccinate 1.5 million citizens against the disease, primarily in Lusaka, after receiving 1.4 million doses of vaccine from the World Health Organization (WHO) and an additional 200,000 from GAVI, the vaccine alliance of a public-private global health partnership to increase immunization access in poor countries.

Local and foreign well-wishers have also assisted in various forms to the country's fight against waterborne disease.