Suspected cholera cases reach one million in Yemen

The number of suspected cholera cases in war-torn Yemen has reached one million, the International Committee of the Red Cross said yesterday.

"Yemen suspected cholera cases has reached the threshold of one million, amplifying the suffering of the country caught up in a brutal war," the ICRC said on its Yemen Twitter account.

The World Health Organization warned in November that some 2,200 people have already died from the waterborne disease, which has propagated rapidly due to deteriorating hygiene and sanitation conditions.

Marc Poncin, the emergency coordinator for Doctors Without Borders (MSF) in Yemen, told AFP that cholera mortality rates had been on a downtrend in recent months but that the disease was far from vanquished.

"The vibrio is a very resistant bacteria that can survive in water for a very long period of time," Poncin said, warning that next year's rainy season could bring an uptick.

"As soon as there is a favourable situation for its increase then it's there," he added.

Yemen is in the midst of a bloody war between pro-government forces backed by a Saudi-led coalition and Huthi rebels who control the capital.