LUANDA, May 14, 2025 (BSS/AFP) - Angola has recorded over 20,000 cases of cholera since January in an outbreak that has killed more than 600 people, the health ministry said Tuesday.

The African nation has struggled with high poverty rates and poor sanitation despite its oil wealth.

"Since the beginning of the outbreak, a cumulative total of 20,050 cases were reported," the ministry said in a daily status report which said there had been 612 deaths.

There were 233 cases and three deaths in the last 24 hours, it said.

About a third of all cases were in Luanda province around the capital.

The age range of those affected is between two and 100, the ministry said.

Cholera is an acute intestinal infection that spreads through food and contaminated water.

It causes severe diarrhoea, vomiting and muscle cramps and can kill within hours when not attended to, though it can be treated with simple oral rehydration and antibiotics.

Angola has for decades faced recurrent cholera outbreaks, according to the World Health Organization (WHO), with peaks during the rainy seasons.

The first case this year was reported in January, and the disease rapidly spread to most of the country's 21 provinces.