Health Department encourages people to wash hands, boil water before drinking

The death toll from the cholera outbreak in South Africa has climbed to 32 after the death of a woman from Parys in the Free State on Thursday. She’s the second person confirmed dead by the provincial Department of Health.

Last month a 33-year-old woman from Vredefort died in Parys Hospital as a result of cholera.

At least 29 deaths occurred in the Hammanskraal area, north of Pretoria, and one in Mpumalanga.

Free State health spokesperson Mondli Mvambi says the second patient to die in the province had been admitted at Boitumelo Hospital in Kroonstad.

“The patient is confirmed to have died and thereafter laboratory tests confirmed that the death is attributable to Cholera. The Department would like to take this opportunity to urge the public to believe information about causes of death that are confirmed by laboratory tests and not opinions that are not scientifically supported by facts.

“The Department of Health continues to make a clarion call for all people to continue washing their hands and boiling water before they can consume it.”