1,622 cases and 30 deaths, more than half of them before reaching a clinic: Chilengi tells Parliament the outbreak has spread to 20 districts as 709,018 people are vaccinated

The cholera count that stood at 1,488 cases and 29 deaths on Wednesday has moved on. Health Minister Professor Roma Chilengi told the National Assembly in a ministerial statement on Thursday 29 October that Zambia had recorded 1,622 cases since the outbreak was declared on 28 July, of which 228 are laboratory-confirmed, and 30 deaths, Zambia Monitor and News Diggers reported. Of the deaths, 16 occurred in communities before the patients reached a health facility and 14 in facilities. In the latest 24-hour period there were 74 new cases across 12 districts and no deaths; 104 patients were admitted and 1,488 had recovered and been discharged.

Of the 30 deaths recorded, 16 occurred in communities before the patients could reach a health facility.
— Roma Chilengi, Minister of Health, in a ministerial statement to the National Assembly on Thursday 29 October, as reported by Zambia Monitor

The outbreak now covers 20 districts in six provinces. Lusaka Province has 1,090 cases, Central 298, Luapula 133, Northern 88, Southern 11 and the Copperbelt 2. The newest districts to report cases are Mumbwa, with one, and Chisamba, with two. Zambia Monitor's report of the statement gives no district-level breakdown for Lusaka, where the capital has carried most of the national count throughout the outbreak.

What the government is doing

Chilengi described a whole-of-government response. The National Epidemic Preparedness, Prevention, Control and Management Committee has been convened to coordinate across ministries. The Ministry of Finance and National Planning has released K13 million to the water and sanitation ministry for emergency safe water supply. Surveillance, case detection, laboratory confirmation, treatment and community prevention are being strengthened with provincial and district health offices, partners, community leaders and volunteers. On the volunteers, News Diggers reports that the minister argued that volunteering should not be tied to promises of employment and that the government does not need to promise volunteers jobs during an outbreak.

The vaccination campaign is nearly complete. The International Coordinating Group on vaccine provision approved 782,147 doses of oral cholera vaccine, and 709,018 eligible people aged one and above have received it, which the minister put at 91 per cent of the target: 555,472 in ten wards of Lusaka District, 134,699 in four wards of Chibombo and 18,847 in one ward of Chongwe. Vaccination continues in Lusaka Central and parts of Munali. Chilengi asked MPs to lead community mobilisation in their constituencies and to repeat the prevention messages: safe water sources, boiling or treating water of uncertain quality, handwashing with soap, proper sanitation, no open defecation and food hygiene.

The trajectory

The outbreak has roughly doubled in a fortnight. On 13 October the Zambia National Public Health Institute's update, reported by the Times of Zambia, put the cumulative count at 874 cases and 23 deaths in 13 districts of five provinces; Thursday's figures are 1,622 and 30 in 20 districts of six. The absence of deaths in the latest 24 hours and the 91 per cent vaccine coverage in the worst-affected wards are the government's grounds for saying the response is working; 74 new cases in a day shows transmission has not stopped. The European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control, drawing on Africa CDC data to 11 October, counted 1,773 cases and 37 deaths in Zambia for the whole of 2026, which includes cases from before the current outbreak was declared.

Sources: Zambia Monitor, “30 people have died in Zambia's cholera outbreak —Health minister” (29 Oct 2026); News Diggers, “MoH records 1,622 cholera cases, 30 deaths” (30 Oct 2026); Times of Zambia, “Cholera: 55 new cases, 1 death recorded” (13 Oct 2026); European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control, “Cholera – multi-country (world) – monitoring global outbreaks – monthly update, 27 October 2026” (27 Oct 2026).