(Port-au-Prince) The number of cholera contaminations continues to increase in Haiti, according to a new bulletin from the Ministry of Public Health obtained by AFP on Tuesday, fueling fears of a new disaster in this country already plunged in a humanitarian and security crisis.
Posted at 7:45 p.m.
As of Monday, 606 suspected and 66 confirmed cases have been identified in total, according to this bulletin. That is an increase of 222 new suspected cases counted between October 13 and 17.
In addition, 22 deaths were recorded in medical structures.
Suspicious cases have also been listed in new regions of this Caribbean country, the bulletin indicates, in particular in the departments of the center, Artibonite and Center.
The civil prison of Port-au-Prince, with 271 suspected cases, 12 confirmed and 14 dead, according to the Haitian ministry, represents one of the epicentres of the disease in the country.
The announcement of this new assessment comes the day after a meeting at the UN where the Security Council discussed the possible dispatch of an international force to Haiti to deal with the humanitarian and security crisis.
Antonio Guterres, Secretary General of the United Nations, described as “absolutely nightmarish” the situation in Haiti, characterized in particular by the blocking of the main oil terminal by gangs who do not let the fuel out.
Speaking at the United Nations, Haitian Minister for Foreign Affairs Jean Victor Généus said he had “the delicate mission of bringing before the Security Council the cry of distress of an entire suffering people and of saying aloud and intelligible that the Haitians do not live, they survive”.
While the number of cholera cases continues to increase, demonstrations have resumed in Port-au-Prince and in the Haitian regions to demand in particular the resignation of the head of government Ariel Henry. A demonstration of several hundred participants was dispersed on Monday with tear gas not far from the United States Embassy.
Haiti experienced a cholera epidemic between 2010 and 2019, introduced by peacekeepers, which killed more than 10,000 people.