Haiti cholera death toll starts to rise again, but don’t worry folks, the UN is going to create a panel to investigate the situation, next spring

PORT-AU-PRINCE: Haiti’s cholera death toll has jumped by about 210, with more than 2400 now dead, health officials in the capital say. The deaths shook hopes that the outbreak had begun to taper off.

However, there are signs of potential progress in the earthquake-ravaged country. A study by the International Office of Migration shows the number of homeless people living in tent cities has dropped to 1 million, from a peak of 1.5 million in July.

The study found that 130,000 families still live in tents in Port-au-Prince and Delmas – the congested urban centre – underscoring the challenge of finding suitable land to relocate people and their homes. The largest decrease took place in Leogane, a city 32 kilometres west of Port-au-Prince that had 185 camps in September and 125 last month.

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The Health Ministry in its latest cholera figures listed 2405 deaths since the infections began in mid-October. More than 54,500 people have been treated in hospital, out of 109,196 cases.

Last Friday the toll had reached 2193, after a series of daily tolls of 27 and 26 deaths suggested that the waterborne epidemic could be easing its grip.

Those numbers represented the first time for a month that authorities had recorded fewer than 30 people dying from cholera on two consecutive days.

The outbreak, Haiti’s first in more than a century, spawned deadly anti-United Nations riots last month as people turned their anger on international peacekeepers accused of bringing the disease into the country. The Nepalese army denies the cholera emanated from septic tanks at its base in the Artibonite valley.

The UN is set to name a panel to investigate the epidemic’s origin.

Agence France-Presse, The Miami Herald

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