GENEVA: Yemen's cholera outbreak has infected 612,703 people and killed 2,048 since it began in April, and some districts are still reporting sharp rises in new cases, data from the World Health Organization and Yemen's health ministry showed on Tuesday.
The overall spread of the epidemic has slowed in the past two months, with the daily number of new suspected cases cut to around 3,000 in recent days.
However the epidemic, the most explosive on record in terms of its rapid spread, has continually confounded expectations. Soon after it began, WHO saw a worst-case scenario of 300,000 cases within six months.
But by the end of June, WHO was hoping 218,000 cases might be the halfway mark. In late July it said the spread had peaked after infecting 400,000.
Epidemics normally decline as quickly as they arise, so the peak of the disease - which is spread by contaminated food and water - should be roughly half the eventual total caseload.
But the decline in the epidemic has been bumpy, and the number of new cases rose in two of the past four weeks.
WHO spokesman Tarik Jasarevic said some of the most affected areas, such as Sanaa City and the governorates of Hajjah and Amran, had seen falls in the numbers of new cases.
But there had been a "sudden and significant increase" in the number of suspected cases reported from 12 districts, in the governorates of Hodeidah, Al Jawf, Al Mahwit, Ibb, Dhamar, Al Bayda and Aden.
"WHO is currently investigating the reason for this increase. A key aim of the investigation will be to determine whether the numbers are accurate and whether the spike in suspected cases is, in fact, caused by cholera or another diarrhoeal disease like rotavirus," Jasarevic said.
Save the Children, a charity running cholera treatment centres, said last Friday that suspected cases in Hodeidah governorate had jumped by 40 percent in three weeks amid heavy rains and a heatwave, and in some districts weekly caseloads were double their previous peaks.
The United Nations has said the epidemic is man-made, driven by a civil war that has left 15.7 million people without clean water or sanitation.
Yemen’s cholera epidemic hits 600,000
Yemen’s cholera epidemic hits 600,000
Morocco to secure 60% of water needs from desalination
- Rabat boosts investment in facilities powered by renewable energy, minister tells Marrakech conference
MARRAKECH: Morocco, which has endured seven years of drought, plans to supply 60 percent of its drinking water from treated seawater by 2030, up from 25 percent, its water minister said, as Rabat accelerates investment in desalination plants powered by renewable energy.
The push is crucial to ensure a steady water supply and to maintain Morocco’s status as a key producer and exporter of fresh produce amid climate change, as droughts have dried up some of its main water reservoirs and depleted underground resources.
FASTFACT
The plant will have a capacity of 350 million cubic meters and will supply urban centers in Morocco’s food basket as well as farmlands.
The North African country plans to produce 1.7 billion cubic meters of desalinated water annually by 2030 from projects under construction and plants for which it will hold tenders starting next year, Nizar Baraka said on the sidelines of the World Water Congress in Marrakech.
The largest plant — with planned investment of about 10 billion dirhams ($1 billion) — will be located near Tiznit, 615 km south of the capital Rabat.
It will have a capacity of 350 million cubic meters and will supply urban centers in the country’s food basket as well as farmlands, he said.
“Studies are underway as part of preparations for the plant’s tender, to be announced by mid next year,” Baraka said.
Besides the northern cities of Nador and Tangier, plants are also planned in Rabat in partnership with the French group Veolia, as well as in Tantan, where the government is considering building a port dedicated to green hydrogen and ammonia exports, Baraka said.
Morocco currently operates 17 desalination plants producing 345 million cubic meters annually.
Four additional plants are under construction with a combined capacity of 540 million cubic meters, scheduled to be ready by 2027, including a major facility in Casablanca, the country’s most populous city.
“All new desalination plants will be powered by renewable energy,” Baraka said.
Morocco has also faced rising temperatures and worsening evaporation in dams.
To counter this, it installed floating solar panels on a dam near Tangier to reduce evaporation, which accounts for 30 percent of the country’s surface water loss, according to the minister.
“The experiment will be expanded to include dams in the south and mountainous regions,” Baraka said.
