The mayor of Mariupol, Vadim Boichenko, said that there were outbreaks of infectious diseases in the city. “Cholera, dysentery and other infectious diseases are already spreading in the city, but [the occupation authorities] are hiding it. The city is under quarantine. No one is allowed in or out,” the mayor said in an interview with the BBC.
According to the mayor’s estimates, there may be dozens of cholera patients in Mariupol now, and their number will increase rapidly. “This infection is spreading very fast. And there are no conditions to contain it. There are no doctors, no infectious hospitals. Our infectious hospital has been destroyed with all the equipment, the doctors have been killed,” the mayor noted. According to Boichenko, this outbreak could claim thousands of lives if it spreads.
At the same time, according to him, there are no concrete facts that someone has been hospitalized with a diagnosis of “cholera”, since there is no access to the hospital. Nevertheless, Vadim Boichenko believes that there are all the signs that allow us to assert that a cholera outbreak has started in Mariupol. In particular, there are many dead bodies in the city that are not being removed and are lying in the streets; there are many makeshift graves; there are heat waves and heavy rains.
“There are heavy rains that destroy makeshift graves. The people of Mariupol have been creating these graves throughout the war – burying people in yards, parks, squares and hills. In addition, there is a non-functioning water supply system and, above all, a non-functioning sewage system. And all of this creates a mixture that flows toward rivers and wells from which people draw water,” Boychenko said.
He says the water in the city’s wells is not safe to drink, and not enough is being brought in. People can stand in line for water for several days. “That is why the city has been closed. No one is allowed in or out. We have received medicines for Mariupol, but they still need to be delivered there. It is necessary to organize humanitarian corridors and deliver medicines to Mariupol,” the mayor assures. According to him, measures are now being taken to prevent the infection from spreading to other regions of Ukraine.
Mariupol: the city before and after the war Sanitary checkpoints have been set up in the direction of Zaporizhia. People traveling from Mariupol to the controlled areas must undergo cholera tests. We have received the tests from international partners. Earlier, WHO experts had warned that the unsanitary conditions in Mariupol could lead to a cholera outbreak. Cholera is an acute infectious disease caused by the consumption of contaminated food or water. If left untreated, the disease can be fatal within hours. Each year, 1.3 to 4 million cases of cholera are recorded worldwide, resulting in 20,000 to 140,000 deaths.
The World Health Organization warned of a possible cholera outbreak in Mariupol, but as of June 7 said there were no cases of infection in the city. The occupation authorities do not comment on the information about the cholera outbreak in Mariupol. The Russian Ministry of Defense claimed that the cholera pathogen was collected in laboratories in Mariupol. There is no evidence to support these claims. In times of war, the BBC cannot immediately verify the claims of the parties to the conflict.