Past 1,300 cases and 27 deaths: the cholera outbreak has reached 18 districts in six provinces, with Lusaka carrying more than half the count and Chibombo most of the rest

Zambia's cholera outbreak has spread to 18 districts in six provinces, with 1,314 cumulative cases and 27 deaths, according to a Zambia National Public Health Institute update reported by The Mast on Monday 26 October. The update recorded 53 new cases in 24 hours, four of them laboratory-confirmed, and one new death. The paper reports 1,233 patients as recovered and discharged and 54 in hospital. The ZNPHI is quoted as saying that "cumulative deaths have risen to 27, with 1,233 patients having recovered and been discharged" and that "the outbreak has spread across 18 districts in six provinces".

Lusaka District remains the centre of the outbreak with 723 cases, about 55 per cent of the national total. Chibombo has 272, Chongwe 71, Chienge 56, Chilanga 46, Mwansabombwe 39 and Mpulungu 38, according to the district figures The Mast reproduces. The Mast dates the start of the outbreak to 28 July; the Ministry of Health's formal declaration came on 30 September, when, as Lusaka Brief reported on 2 October, there were 304 cases and 11 deaths in seven districts across five provinces. The count has more than quadrupled in four weeks.

Two sets of figures

A tally published by Outbreak News Today on Monday 26 October gives higher numbers: 1,488 cumulative cases, 219 of them confirmed, 29 deaths, 68 new cases in the previous 24 hours, and 845 cases in Lusaka, about 57 per cent of the total, across the same 18 districts and six provinces. That report does not name its source, and Lusaka Brief has not found a published ZNPHI bulletin with those figures. The two accounts agree on the geographic spread and on Lusaka's share; they differ by 174 cases and two deaths, which is consistent with updates issued on different days but cannot be confirmed from what has been published.

The ZNPHI's advice, as reported, is unchanged: wash hands with soap and water, drink boiled or treated water, cook food thoroughly, keep toilets clean, and take anyone with watery diarrhoea or vomiting to the nearest health facility at once. The Child Health Week launched on Monday, reported separately in this edition, will put outreach teams into the same districts over the coming days.

Sources: The Mast, “Cholera cases hit 1,314 as death toll rises to 27” (26 Oct 2026); Outbreak News Today, “Zambia cholera outbreak update as of October 26” (26 Oct 2026).