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Grace Nyoni Midlands Reporter
Gweru City Council is on high cholera alert and has implemented a raft of measures including burying refuse and attending to water bursts as soon as the report is received.

Gweru mayor Councillor Josiah Makombe said the local authority has improved service delivery in water and sanitation in the face of the cholera and typhoid outbreaks.

The city is still fighting typhoid which left over 2 000 residents requiring treatment and eight deaths.

Clr Makombe said the city needs to have clean water and better waste management. “No area in Gweru has recorded any cases of cholera as yet hence we are calling on travelling residents to practice hygiene to fight cholera since it has been discovered in areas like Harare , Gokwe and Kadoma.

“Since I was appointment as mayor, as the council we have put up some measures to improve water and sanitation. We are collecting refuse all the time and we are burying the refuse at the dumpsite in Woodlands area. Some of the rubbish at the dump has been burnt as one of the ways of fighting the water bone diseases,” he said. Clr Makombe said the council is working tirelessly to respond swiftly to sewer bust and is having awareness campaigns so that residents create clean environment in a bid to curb typhoid and fight cholera.

Meanwhile, the city health services director Mr Sam Sekenhamo said residents should stop using sewer water for irrigation. “People should desist from breaking sewer lines to use the water for irrigation and using it is considered critical in maintaining typhoid and cholera spread since the main drivers for these diseases is the use of unclean water,” he said.

Mr Sekenhamo said all food outlets should be tested and retested to ensure their food and premises are not contaminated since the cholera outbreak has been declared a State of Emergency, after claiming about 31 lives.

“Food outlets should practice hygiene and should get retested to ensure their food and premises are not contaminated to avoid the spread of the diseases,” said Mr Sekenhamo.