By Surihe Gaomas WINDHOEK The heightened concern over the recent fear of a cholera outbreak and diarrhoea cases in the country has now died down, since no new cases have been reported so far. Minister of Health and Social Services Dr Richard Kamwi said the situation is now under control following a high health alert and surveillance in the affected Northern regions. Upon visiting parts of the Kunene Region this week, where the acute diarrhoea cases had started off in the first place, he found that there had not been a repeat of such cases in Opuwo or even Outapi in the Omusati Region. Dr Kamwi was therefore optimistic about the situation and said, “It is only a matter of time for all this to be behind us.” He explained further that, with continuous education on sanitation and communities making use of potable water, the previous cholera health challenge that Namibia faced a couple of weeks ago would disappear. Since last year, Namibia has had a run of health challenges, starting with the polio outbreak at a time when the country was on the verge of being declared polio-free by the World Health Organization (WHO). In addition, late last year and beginning of this year, health surveillance was on high alert following an outbreak of diarrhoea and cholera in neighbouring countries, which also spilled over into Namibia’s northern regions. In neighbouring Angola more than 1ÃÆ’Æ‘ÀÃ…ÃÆ”šÃ‚ 200 people are reported to have died in the past three months. Apart from the outbreak in Angola, the disease was also reported in Zambia and Zimbabwe where recent rains have worsened the situation. Since October, more than 143 cases were reported in Zambia, while hundreds have been affected in Zimbabwe. Early this month, Dr Kamwi held a press briefing in order to update the media and the general public on the current situation, especially in northern Namibia where several cholera cases had broken out. During the period November last year to the end of January, six cases of cholera were confirmed in Namibia, but all patients were discharged from hospital after receiving treatment. All these cases were due to the frequent movement by people across the country’s borders.