As of Wednesday, Malawi had recorded 40,284 cholera cases and 1,316 deaths in an outbreak that started in March 2022, with the country averaging over 500 new cases every day, Charles Mwansambo told a briefing organized by the World Health Organization's Africa office.
WHO said in a statement that active transmission was now ongoing in 27 out of Malawi's 29 districts, with the country seeing a 143-percent increase in the number of cases last month compared to December.
"With a sharp increase of cases seen over the last month, fears are that the outbreak will continue to worsen without strong interventions," WHO warned in a statement.
The WHO said Malawi's current outbreak was the deadliest on record, with nearly 37,000 cases reported since March 2022. That's worse than ones in 1998/99 and 2001/02 that saw 860 and 968 deaths respectively.
But the UN health agency pointed out that the crisis in Malawi is occurring against a backdrop of surging cholera outbreaks worldwide, which have "constrained the availability of vaccines, tests and treatments."
Since the outbreak began, Malawi has carried out two large vaccination campaigns, but due to limited supplies, has offered just one of the usually recommended two oral cholera vaccine doses.
Since the outbreak began, Malawi has carried out two large vaccination campaigns, but due to limited supplies, has offered just one of the usually recommended two oral cholera vaccine doses.
In November, it received the second batch of almost three million doses from the UN, and last month a health ministry spokesman told AFP all the doses had been used.
WHO said Thursday that 96.8 percent of the population "residing in communities with high risk and burden of cholera" had been reached.
Beyond vaccination, the WHO said efforts were under way to improve sanitation and access to clean water, with house-to-house chlorination ongoing in affected communities and districts, among other interventions.
WHO said there was a continued risk of further increases in the number of cases in the Malawi outbreak, and said there could also be more international spread.
WHO said it assessed the current risk of spread inside Malawi and to neighboring countries as "very high."
Confirmed cases have already been reported across the border in Mozambique.
WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus told reporters Wednesday that there were currently 23 countries in the world experiencing cholera outbreaks, with a further 20 countries that share land borders with them at risk.
"In total, more than one billion people around the world are directly at risk of cholera," he warned.