Health Minister Dr Ifereimi Waqainabete

The Health Ministry is working on ensuring the recent Typhoid outbreak in the Naitasiri subdivision does not spread to neighbouring villages.

Minister responsible, Dr Ifereimi Waqainabete says identifying the water source in affected areas will be one of their major strategies, to ensure people have access to safe and clean water.

Dr Waqainabete says they’re now urging villagers within the Naitasiri area to boil all drinking water.

He says health officials are now visiting the affected areas on a daily basis to monitor the situation on the ground.

“We don’t want this out break to actually get worse and more importantly we are now at the end of the year, where we’re all looking forward to Christmas and New Year. There’s a lot of functions that are happening, so it’s important that we contain this. We don’t want it to spread especially to the neighbouring villagers and we also want to be sure that it does not spread into the towns and cities especially during this festive season.”

The Minister earlier revealed to FBC News that there are currently 31 confirmed cases while 14 are suspected cases.

The public is advised to postpone non-essential travel to the affected areas and exercise precautionary measures.

Families have also been educated on safe food preparation, food handling and proper hygiene practices.