Mozambique recorded 87 new cholera cases in the current outbreak within 24 hours, bringing the total to nearly 6,100 infections since September, with 72 deaths — including 322 new cases in just four days, according to official data.
According to the latest disease bulletin from the Direção Nacional de Saúde Pública (DNSP), accessed by Lusa on Tuesday and covering data from 3 September to 22 February, of the 6,086 cholera cases recorded during this period, 2,650 were registered in Nampula Province, with a cumulative total of 32 deaths, and 2,283 in Tete Province, with 28 deaths, in addition to 931 cases in Cabo Delgado Province, with eight deaths.
On a smaller scale, the cumulative figures show 97 cholera cases and one death in Zambezia Province, 84 cases and two deaths in Manica Province, and 39 cases and one death in Sofala Province. Cases were also reported this month in Maputo and in Gaza Province (one in each).
In the 24 hours prior to the closing of this bulletin (22 February) alone, 87 additional cases were confirmed, with the national overall case fatality rate standing at 1.2%. Over four days, the number of new patients rose to 322, with one death, in addition to 101 people hospitalized with cholera.
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In the previous cholera outbreak, according to DNSP data from 17 October 2024 to 20 July 2025, 4,420 infections were recorded, 3,590 of them in Nampula Province, and a total of 64 deaths. The current outbreak has already surpassed both the number of cases and deaths in roughly half the time of the previous one.
Mozambican health authorities acknowledged on 19 February that the country is facing a cholera epidemic, with the disease present in 22 districts, and are moving forward with vaccinating 3.5 million people.
“The country has an epidemic, clearly because we have several outbreaks in several locations. The definition of an epidemic is when we have several outbreaks together, so yes, we do,” said National Director of Public Health Quinhas Fernandes, speaking to Lusa at a press conference in Maputo.
At the same press conference reviewing the epidemiological situation, the official added that a cholera vaccination campaign will begin in the coming days in the city of Tete and in Moatize, in Tete Province (central Mozambique), and in the districts of Eráti and Nacala Porto, in Nampula Province (northern Mozambique).
“In Tete we are vaccinating two districts and in Nampula another two districts. Initially, we received 2.5 million vaccine doses, which are currently being allocated to these two provinces, and in about a week and a half we will receive around 750,000 additional doses. In total, for these two provinces, we will allocate around 3.5 million doses to vaccinate in these four districts,” Fernandes explained.
The Government of Mozambique aims to eliminate cholera “as a public health problem” in the country by 2030, according to a plan approved on 16 September by the Council of Ministers and valued at 31 billion meticais (418.5 million euros).
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The goal is “to have a Mozambique free of cholera as a public health problem by 2030, where communities have access to safe water, sanitation, and quality healthcare, achieved through multisectoral, coordinated actions informed by scientific evidence,” said Inocêncio Impissa at the time.
