Iraq Announces 1st Cholera Death Since New Outbreak

FILE - A nurse stands outside a coronavirus vaccination room at a clinic in Baghdad, Iraq, April 21, 2021. AP
FILE - A nurse stands outside a coronavirus vaccination room at a clinic in Baghdad, Iraq, April 21, 2021. AP
TT
20

Iraq Announces 1st Cholera Death Since New Outbreak

FILE - A nurse stands outside a coronavirus vaccination room at a clinic in Baghdad, Iraq, April 21, 2021. AP
FILE - A nurse stands outside a coronavirus vaccination room at a clinic in Baghdad, Iraq, April 21, 2021. AP

A cholera outbreak in Iraq claimed its first victim Tuesday, with 17 new cases recorded in the country within 24 hours, a health ministry spokesperson said.

The death was recorded in the northern province of Kirkuk, the ministry's Seif al-Badr was quoted as saying by state media.

"Over the past 24 hours, 17 new cases were detected, bringing the total to 76 cases registered in Iraq since the start of the year," he said, according to AFP.

The outbreak was first officially reported earlier this month, with Kirkuk accounting for one of the 13 cases confirmed at that time.

The other infections were mostly concentrated in neighboring Sulaimaniyah province, in the autonomous Kurdistan region.

The country's last broad cholera outbreak dates back to 2015, Badr had said previously, with the central provinces of Baghdad and Babil to its south the worst affected.

Cholera is an acute diarrheal disease that is treatable with antibiotics and hydration but can kill within hours without medical attention.

It is caused by a germ that is typically transmitted by poor sanitation. People become infected when they swallow food or water carrying the bug.

According to the World Health Organization, researchers estimate that annually there are between 1.3 million and four million cases of cholera worldwide, leading to between 21,000 and 143,000 deaths.



Greece to Build Escape Port on Santorini as Quakes Continue

FILE PHOTO: People board a ferry to Piraeus, during an increased seismic activity on the island of Santorini, Greece, February 4, 2025. REUTERS/Alkis Konstantinidis/File Photo
FILE PHOTO: People board a ferry to Piraeus, during an increased seismic activity on the island of Santorini, Greece, February 4, 2025. REUTERS/Alkis Konstantinidis/File Photo
TT
20

Greece to Build Escape Port on Santorini as Quakes Continue

FILE PHOTO: People board a ferry to Piraeus, during an increased seismic activity on the island of Santorini, Greece, February 4, 2025. REUTERS/Alkis Konstantinidis/File Photo
FILE PHOTO: People board a ferry to Piraeus, during an increased seismic activity on the island of Santorini, Greece, February 4, 2025. REUTERS/Alkis Konstantinidis/File Photo

Greece will soon set up an evacuation port on the island of Santorini to facilitate the safe escape of people in case a bigger quake hits the popular tourist destination, a Greek minister said on Monday.
Santorini, a volcanic island in the Aegean Sea, has been shaken by tens of thousands of mild quakes since late January, forcing thousands of people to flee, and authorities to ban construction activity, and shut schools and nearby islands.
No major damage has been reported but scientists have said the seismic activity was unprecedented even in a quake-prone country like Greece and have not ruled out bigger tremors.
They have identified the main ferry port at the foot of a precipitous slope and other sites across Santorini as weak links, although they have not said they cannot be used in an emergency situation, Reuters reported.
Civil Protection Minister Vassilis Kikilias said Greece will build an evacuation port for the safe docking of passenger ferries until a new port infrastructure is in place.
"Along with the new port in Santorini which is being prepared, there was a decision for setting up an escape port on the part of the island where passenger ferries would be able to dock in an emergency," he said in an interview with Greek ANT1 television.
Although the tremors lessened over the weekend, local authorities extended emergency measures for a third week on Sunday and reiterated calls for people to stay away from coastal areas and steep hillsides prone to landslides.
"This story is not over," Costas Papazachos, a seismology professor, and a spokesperson for the Santorini quakes told public broadcaster ERT.
"Both authorities and habitants should get used to a rather unpleasant situation for some time, it could be another two, three months."
Santorini took its current shape following one of the largest volcanic eruptions in history, around 1600 BC.
Seismologists have said the latest seismic activity, the result of moving tectonic plates and magma, has pushed subsurface layers of the island upwards.