DAR ES SALAAM, March 22 -- Tanzanian authorities said on Wednesday they have recorded 60 cases of cholera in the country's four regions between Feb. 19 and March 15.

George Simbachawene, the Minister of State in the Prime Minister's Office responsible for Policy, Parliament and Coordination, while launching a program for the prevention of cholera in the capital Dodoma, said the 60 cholera cases were recorded in Ruvuma region with one patient, seven patients in Kigoma region, Rukwa region with 18 patients and Katavi region with 34 patients.

He explained that no deaths from the disease were reported during the period under review, warning that Tanzania should remain on high alert after the disease killed scores of people in neighboring Malawi.

Simbachawene said reports also indicated that there was an outbreak of cholera in Mozambique, Zambia and the Democratic Republic of the Congo.

According to statistics by the Ministry of Health, the largest country-wide cholera outbreak in Tanzania occurred in 1997, resulting in a total of 40,249 cases and 2,231 deaths.

  - Xinhua