The number of fatalities associated with the cholera outbreak in the Ekureku community in the Abi Local Government Area of Cross River has increased from 20 on Saturday to 51 on Monday.
This was said by the clan chief of the neighborhood, Chief Bernard Egbe, when he met Sen. Sandy Onor, a candidate for the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), who had come to the neighborhood to sympathize with the residents.
The clan leader, who called the situation regrettable, noted that many afflicted people were seeking care at various medical facilities nearby.
Four of the patients receiving care, he added, were in critical condition.
He said that they had assistance from the WHO, UNICEF, and some state government representatives.
The PDP candidate for governor advised the people to hold onto hope despite saying that he understood their suffering.
He promised that if elected, he would make sure that the state’s residents had access to clean drinking water.
He gave cash to each of the 10 devastated communities in the Ekureku community as a palliative.
The state administration is in control of the issue, according to Dr. Janet Ekpeyong, director-general of the state Primary Healthcare Development Agency, who stated this on Sunday.
She claimed that both human and material resources had been used by the government to stop the disease’s spread.
“The state Government has deployed a response team together with representatives from the World Health Organization, the Nigerian Red Cross and Wash Programme.
“The combined team have all intervened accordingly and helped to save lives and prevent further spread of the disease,” she stated.
In a distant community in the state’s Odukpani Local Government Area, there has reportedly been another outbreak of the disease.
This was revealed to the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) on Monday by Dr. Iwara Iwara, the permanent secretary of the state ministry of health.
Iwara claimed that the epidemic was discovered on Sunday evening and that the government sent personnel and supplies to the region.
