Nigeria Reports 359 Cholera Deaths in First Nine Months of Year

FILE PHOTO: A health worker at the Medecins Sans Frontieres (MSF - Doctors without Borders) Cholera Treatment Center, checks intravenous fluid for a newly arrived cholera patient Ali Bakura, 3, in Maiduguri, Borno State, Nigeria October 18, 2022. REUTERS/Christophe Van Der Perre/File Photo
FILE PHOTO: A health worker at the Medecins Sans Frontieres (MSF - Doctors without Borders) Cholera Treatment Center, checks intravenous fluid for a newly arrived cholera patient Ali Bakura, 3, in Maiduguri, Borno State, Nigeria October 18, 2022. REUTERS/Christophe Van Der Perre/File Photo
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Nigeria Reports 359 Cholera Deaths in First Nine Months of Year

FILE PHOTO: A health worker at the Medecins Sans Frontieres (MSF - Doctors without Borders) Cholera Treatment Center, checks intravenous fluid for a newly arrived cholera patient Ali Bakura, 3, in Maiduguri, Borno State, Nigeria October 18, 2022. REUTERS/Christophe Van Der Perre/File Photo
FILE PHOTO: A health worker at the Medecins Sans Frontieres (MSF - Doctors without Borders) Cholera Treatment Center, checks intravenous fluid for a newly arrived cholera patient Ali Bakura, 3, in Maiduguri, Borno State, Nigeria October 18, 2022. REUTERS/Christophe Van Der Perre/File Photo

More than 350 people have died from cholera in Nigeria in the first nine months of this year, a 239% jump from the same period last year, data from the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control (NCDC) showed on Monday.
Cholera, a water-borne disease, is not uncommon in Nigeria where health authorities say there is a lack of potable drinking water in rural areas and urban slums, reported Reuters.
NCDC said 359 people had died between January and September compared to 106 during the same period last year.
The number of suspected cholera cases also surged to 10,837, up from 3,387 the previous year, with most of those affected being children under five years old.
Lagos, the country's commercial capital, recorded the highest number of cases, NCDC said.
Authorities in northeastern Borno said on Friday that a cholera outbreak had hit the state, which is also dealing with flooding that has displaced nearly 2 million people.



Kremlin Says Russia Will Appoint a New Ambassador to the United States

Tourists walk on the Red Square outside the Kremlin during World Tourism Day in Moscow, Russia, 27 September 2024. (EPA)
Tourists walk on the Red Square outside the Kremlin during World Tourism Day in Moscow, Russia, 27 September 2024. (EPA)
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Kremlin Says Russia Will Appoint a New Ambassador to the United States

Tourists walk on the Red Square outside the Kremlin during World Tourism Day in Moscow, Russia, 27 September 2024. (EPA)
Tourists walk on the Red Square outside the Kremlin during World Tourism Day in Moscow, Russia, 27 September 2024. (EPA)

The Kremlin said on Monday that a new Russian ambassador to the United States would be appointed, dismissing speculation that relations with Washington were being downgraded at the end of the term of the current envoy Anatoly Antonov.

The Siberian-born Antonov, 69, a career diplomat, had been head of the Russian embassy in Washington since 2017. He said in July that his assignment was coming to an end.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said President Vladimir Putin was not currently scheduled to receive Antonov, but added that an ambassador had the opportunity to report to the president daily.

Asked if the return of Antonov indicated that relations with Washington were being downgraded, Peskov said: "No, of course an ambassador will be appointed in a timely manner."

The current confrontation between Russia and the West over Ukraine is unparalleled in history and a mistake could lead to catastrophe, a senior Russian diplomat said on Thursday when asked about comparisons to the 1962 Cuban Missile Crisis.

The 2-1/2-year-old Ukraine war, the biggest land war in Europe since World War Two, has triggered a major confrontation between Russia and the West, and Russian officials say it is now entering its most dangerous phase to date.