Friday, June 10, 2022

Cholera outbreak ‘could kill thousands’ as corpses lie uncollected in Mariupol

The collection of bodies in Mariupol has been slow. 
Photo: Reuters/Alexander Ermochenko


Max Huner
June 11 2022 

Cholera and other deadly diseases could kill thousands of people in the southern Ukrainian city of Mariupol as corpses lie uncollected and summer brings warmer weather, its mayor said yesterday.

Vadym Boichenko said wells had been contaminated by the corpses of people killed during weeks of Russian bombardment and siege, and the collection of bodies by the city’s Russian occupiers was proceeding slowly.

“There is an outbreak of dysentery and cholera. This is unfortunately the assessment of our doctors: that the war which took over 20,000 residents... unfortunately, with these infection outbreaks, will claim thousands more Mariupolites,” he said.

Mr Boichenko, who is based outside Mariupol, said the city had been placed into quarantine.

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Mariupol placed under quarantine as city braces itself for a cholera outbreak

Ukraine says about 100,000 people are now in Mariupol, a once-vibrant city that had a population of about 430,000 before the war but is now an urban wasteland.

Mr Boichenko, who said last month that the Russian bombardment had turned Mariupol into a “medieval ghetto”, said residents had been forced to drink water from wells because the city had no running water or functioning sewerage system.

He urged the United Nations and the International Committee of the Red Cross to work on establishing a humanitarian corridor to help residents to leave the city, which Ukrainian officials say still lacks centralised water, electricity and gas supplies.

The World Health Organisation warned last month of a possible cholera outbreak in Mariupol.
Britain’s defence ministry said yesterday that there was a risk of a major cholera outbreak in Mariupol because medical services were probably near collapse.

War in Ukraine: Cholera fears in Mariupol

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Russia has quarantined the Ukrainian city of Mariupol after it was hit by what may be a cholera outbreak, Ukrainian authorities claimed. Water supplies are contaminated because of decomposing corpses and carbage after brutal siege. Amesh Adalja, Senior Scholar at Johns Hopkins Center for Health Security tells us more.   

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