Number of cholera deaths in Haiti rises to 796

Port-au-Prince, Agency
The death toll from the cholera epidemic in Haiti increased to 796, while the total number of those who have been hospitalized with the disease has risen to 12,303, the Health Ministry said Friday.

The ministry also said in its report that the daily death rate has dropped from 77 to 66, and added that 43 of the deaths were in the northern province of Artibonite, the focus of the outbreak.

Nine fatalities occurred in Nord province, eight in Ouest province where the capital is located, while three were in the Central Plateau region and another three in the northwest.

According to the report, since the beginning of the epidemic on Oct. 19, 540 people have died in Artibonite, 76 in Nord, 61 in the Central Plateau, 61 in Ouest, 57 in Nord-Ouest and one in Sud province.

Haiti's four remaining provinces have not been affected by the epidemic.

Authorities' biggest fear is that the disease will gain a foothold in Port-au-Prince, where hundreds of thousands of people have been living in refugee camps since the Jan. 12 earthquake that killed some 300,000 and made 1 million homeless.