admintown clerk Dr Tendai Mahachi said there had been alarming increases in typhoid cases in Glen View, one of the most populated areas in Harare.
“Typhoid cases have risen to 800 of which 700 cases were in Glen View.
“Efforts to provide potable water in the suburb and thus ameliorating the epidemic have henceforth become the council’s main area of priority,” he said.
Diarrhoea disease outbreaks in the city have in recent months worsened due to the erratic water supply, which have resulted in most people relying on the use of unprotected water sources.
Dr Mahachi said the city’s technical department had since received orders to respond aptly to the water situation.
“Due to a breakdown of pumps which fed water to western residential areas, there have not been water supplies to such areas during the previous week.
“The problem has, however, been rectified. Technicians in the department of Harare water have been ordered to be more responsive in cases of breakdown of pumps in order to avert the recurrence of the problem,” he said.
In an interview on Monday, head of the health services department at Harare City Council, Dr Stanley Mungofa said the situation was now under control and attributed the few cases of diarrhoea diseases to increased uptake of food as a result of the festive season.
“Many people are either eating food that they are not used to or that is poorly prepared as they party during this season and that is the chief cause of stomach upsets in the city. Otherwise the outbreaks that the city has been experiencing in recent days is under control,” he said.
Officials in the Ministry of Health and Child Welfare recently called on Government to declare water shortages in cities and towns a national disaster following persistent typhoid outbreaks in these areas.
Online Reporter