Red Cross reopens Haiti cholera centre

GENEVA — The Red Cross has reopened a cholera treatment centre near Port-au-Prince to fight a resurgence of a disease that killed thousands last year, said a statement on Thursday.

According to Haitian health authorities, at least 10 people died in recent days of a new cholera spike in areas near the Haitian capital.

About 1,000 cholera cases were admitted to the Carrefour hospital, south of the capital, they said.

The Red Cross "centre was originally established last year at the height of the epidemic and we have further stocks of medical equipment... ready to be released," said Gerhard Tauscher, cholera operation coordinator for the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC) in a statement.

Reports of cholera in Haiti's urban areas had been trailing off since the beginning of the year, even if isolated cases were reported in rural areas.

In the late 2010 epidemic, 5,332 people were killed and 310,000 were diagnosed with cholera. At the height of the outbreak dozens of deaths were reported daily.