Maputo — 31 people are known to have died of measles out of a total number of 1,191 cases diagnosed in central and northern Mozambique between 9 July and 28 January.

At a Friday press conference in Maputo, on the epidemiological situation in the country, the Deputy National Director of Public Health, Aleny Couto, said Nampula is currently the only province with an active measles outbreak. However, there have been no new cases notified in the previous 24 hours, and for the past 14 days there have been no measles deaths.

The measles cases were reported in Cabo Delgado, Niassa and Nampula in the north, and in the central provinces of Zambezia and Sofala.

428 cases were diagnosed in Niassa, 351 in Nampula, 341 in Cabo Delgado, 42 in Sofala and 29 in Zambezia. Of the 31 known measles deaths, 17 were in Cabo Delgado, 11 in Nampula and three in Niassa.

Couto stressed the need for urgent vaccination campaigns, including "blocking vaccinations' in the areas adjacent to the outbreaks, to avoid the spread of the disease.

Vaccination campaigns against measles were held in the northern provinces in December, and Couto called for intensified surveillance in all provinces.

Nampula has also suffered a cholera outbreak. Couto said 302 cases were diagnosed between October and January, of whom 29 died.

But the outbreak may now be over: Couto said no new cases of cholera have been diagnosed in Nampula for the past 45 days.

It was in the Nampula district of Mogovolas that disinformation about the causes of cholera led a mob to attack and destroy a cholera treatment centre.

"Whenever there is a cholera outbreak, we have to open cholera treatment centres', she said. "But there were threats against health workers, which led to the closure of health units and the consequent interruption of the provision of care'.