Scramble to contain a cholera crisis in Zambia
Zambia is dealing with one of its worst cholera outbreaks in recent years as 351 people have died and nearly 9,000 active cases have been registered.
Climate change has fuelled heavy rains which have contaminated drinking water in overpopulated and impoverished urban areas, mostly in the capital Lusaka.
Health workers are scrambling to contain a crisis that has the potential to be the worst the country has seen since the first outbreak in 1977.
The sound of crying cuts through the humid air as soil is hastily dug out by a uniformed worker and flung to the side. Among the clutches of tall grass is a burial site with clustered and shallow individual allotments – only marginally better than a mass grave.
Burial site for victims of the outbreak
The screams of grief are coming from 16-year-old Catherine. Her grandmother Tamara Lungu’s coffin is in one of the new mounds in the soft ground. Tamara was the matriarch of the family at 84 – both Catherine’s guardian and under her care.
She died of cholera in Zambia‘s Heroes National Stadium on 10 January and the family was informed two days later.
Her other older grandchild Nable Nyirongo stands at her grave. It is marked with tree branches so that he and his cousins can find it among the many other fresh graves when they come back to place a signpost. They will not be allowed to have a funeral.
On top of the grief, there is palpable disappointment.
“There’s nothing we can do. At least they have to respect the bodies, I think they’re not giving us respect,” says 50-year-old Nable.
Beyond the graves, Heroes National Stadium can be seen in the distance. Nable was waiting there for days with worried relatives. He was in the front gardens of the stadium reeling from shock when we first met him.
People wait at the Heroes National Stadium to find out news of their loved ones
“They told us that she is OK and we were transferred to the waiting room after. Now they are telling me that she’s dead. What is this? We are not happy with what is happening here,” he told us as he waited for his grandmother’s body to be placed in the coffin he purchased.
Other concerned relatives gather beyond the metal barriers of the stadium waiting for any news. A roll call of names is read out periodically to assure them that their infected loved ones are still alive.
One man is seething with anger and sitting on the edge of a dry storm water drain. He says his nephew’s name hasn’t been called out for days and all he wants to know is if he is dead or alive.
Next to him is 59-year-old Hamlet and his daughter Agnes. She says her ageing father has made five trips from out of town to check on her brother – his son.
They said they were taken in on Wednesday to see him and found him well. The next day, they went in to see him but couldn’t find him in any of the wards.
“We will feel better if they tell us whether he is dead or alive,” says Agnes. It is clear the lack of closure is beyond frustrating.
The health minister, Sylvia Masebo, is working on capacity and communication issues as the stadium increasingly becomes a focal treatment centre.
“When we started the first 48 hours it was a challenge. But we have stabilised now and have people who have been employed specifically just to deal with that issue of making sure that from six up to midnight they are looking at issues of families.”
A ward treating patients suffering from cholera
We speak to the minister in the paediatric ward where infants as young as five months old are being treated for cholera.
There are buckets and IV drips by every bed. The floor is wet with bleach. Pained high-pitched cries ring out from corners of the room.
Many of these children come from the highly infected area of Kanyama and nearby districts.
Impoverished neighbourhoods full of flooded streets, shallow wells, pit latrines and open-air food stalls.
Heavy rains have contaminated drinking water in overpopulated and impoverished urban areas
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Mothers and guardians have been allowed in to sit at their bedsides on the orders of Ms Masebo.
The prohibition of funerals and family burials has remained in place. More emergency rules are being brought in by her ministry that will place health restrictions on public places like bars and open-air food markets.
I ask her how she predicts Zambians will respond to these measures.
“I think what is important is for us to do what needs to be done which we have not done as a country [for] many decades mainly because sometimes politicians we are scared to do what needs to be done, that which is right because you feel you will be unpopular.”
The government is warning people not to travel to Israel under any circumstances, as the country’s missile exchange with Iran shows no sign of abating.
On Friday, the Foreign Office warned against “all but essential travel” to most of Israel.
The areas around Gaza, the West Bank and the Golan Heights were already classed as red zones, with warnings to avoid travel to these areas.
But the government has now updated the warning for the remainder of the country to red.
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This puts Israel on the same level as Iran, and the change of advice is also likely to impact travel insurance.
However, with Israel’s airspace closed, it is unlikely many people will be attempting the journey, and Israel’s national airline El Al has announced it is cancelling flights to and from many European cities, as well as Tokyo and Moscow, until 23 June.
The change in travel advice comes after a second night of ballistic missile barrages from Iran following Israel’s attack in the early hours of Friday morning.
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An eight-storey residential building in Tel Aviv was hit by a missile last night.
On Sunday morning, Israel’s health ministry said 12 people had been killed over the past day, taking the total since Friday to 15. It also said 385 people had arrived at hospital with injuries overnight.
Iran has not provided a total number of deaths or overall casualties, but has claimed dozens have been killed.
Iran’s health minister has said most of those injured and killed in Israeli strikes were civilians. According to comments carried by news agency IRNA, he said the majority were women and children.
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The chancellor said UK forces could “potentially” be used to help defend Israel.
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The UK government is sending military assets, including fighter jets, to the Middle East.
While the prime minister would not confirm to reporters that UK forces could be used to defend Israel from future Iranian attacks, the chancellor told Sky News earlier that the government is “not ruling anything out”.
Speaking to Sky’s Sunday Morning With Trevor Phillips, Rachel Reeves said sending military assets to the Middle East “does not mean that we are at war”, and emphasised that “we have not been involved in these strikes or this conflict”.
“But we do have important assets in the region,” she continued. “And it is right that we send jets to protect them. And that’s what we’ve done. It’s a precautionary move, and at the same time, we are urging de-escalation.”
Pushed on the question of what the UK would do if Israel asked for support with its operations, the chancellor replied: “I’m not going to rule anything out at this stage. It’s a fast-moving situation, a very volatile situation. But we don’t want to see escalation.”
A helicopter carrying Hindu pilgrims has crashed in India, killing seven people on board.
The accident happened within minutes of the helicopter taking off, officials said, on what should have been a 10-minute flight.
The helicopter was flying to Guptkashi, a prominent Hindu pilgrimage site in the Himalayas, from Kedarnath temple town in the northern Indian state of Uttarakhand.
It comes three days after an Air India flight crashed less than a minute after taking off from Ahmedabad airport in northwestern India, killing at least 270 people.
The helicopter, which was operated by private helicopter service Aryan Aviation, went down in a forested area several miles from the Kedarnath pilgrimage route at around 5.30am local time.
Officials said the crash was believed to have been caused by poor weather conditions.
Authorities say they have launched a search and rescue operation and are expected to review operational protocols for flights in the region.
The dead include the pilot and pilgrims from the neighbouring state of Uttar Pradesh and western states of Maharashtra and Gujarat, according to officials. The bodies were badly burned in a fire that followed the crash, they said.
Smoke and debris at the site. Pic: Reuters
Tens of thousands of pilgrims visit Kedarnath, which is home to one of the four most sacred Hindu temple shrines, each summer. Many use helicopter services due to the difficult mountainous terrain.
Helicopter mishaps are not uncommon in the region, where sudden weather changes and high-altitude flying conditions can pose risks.
Earlier this month, a helicopter operating in the Kedarnath Valley made an emergency landing shortly after taking off on a highway due to a technical fault. The pilot was injured but all five passengers on board were unharmed.
In May, a helicopter crashed in Uttarkashi district, killing six people, including the pilot. One person survived.
An Irish politician who was detained in Egypt trying to cross into Gaza says the police were violent towards the group after seizing his phone.
People Before Profit-Solidarity TD (MP) Paul Murphy was part of a large demonstration attempting to march to the Rafah crossing in a bid to get aid into the region.
The opposition politician said his phone and passport were confiscated on Friday before he was put on a bus to Cairo airport for deportation.
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Footage of the seconds before his phone was seized shows authorities forcibly dragging protesters away from the sit-down demonstration.
Ireland’s deputy premier said several Irish citizens who were detained have now been released. Mr Murphy confirmed he was among the released protesters, posting a photo on his Facebook page saying he was back in Cairo and “meeting shortly to decide next steps”.
In a message from Mr Murphy after he was detained, posted online by his social media team, he said: “I’m ok, but they still have my phone.
“Egyptian police say we’re going to airport but this isn’t the road we came on because there are 1000s of marchers on the streets. They’re taking us south past a lake, then west towards Cairo.
“Violence got worse after they seized my phone.
“One American woman in my group was badly kicked & beaten, and had her hijab torn off.”
Sky News has contacted Egypt’s police regarding Mr Murphy’s claims of violence towards the group.
Mr Murphy previously said other Irish citizen were among those who had been stopped from entering Gaza.
“The world has watched a horrific genocide for the past 20 months. Since March, a total attempt of starvation,” he added.
“And that this is a peaceful march to demand that it be ended and demand that western governments stop their complicity.”
Appeal to foreign affairs minister
Mr Murphy’s partner, Councillor Jess Spear, had previously appealed to Ireland’s Foreign Affairs Minister and deputy premier Simon Harris to make a public statement on Mr Murphy’s detention.
She expressed “relief” that the group had been released from detention.
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The deadly road to Gaza aid point
She said: “However, they still want to reach Rafah to try and get humanitarian aid into Gaza. That has been the sole purpose of being in Egypt.
“Paul has appealed to Tanaiste Simon Harris to put pressure on the Egyptian authorities to let the marchers reach Rafah. The situation of the people of Gaza worsens by the day as they suffer starvation imposed by Israel.”
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