A general view shows a puddle of contaminated water at a camp for internally displaced people in the town of Sarmada, in Syria's northwestern Idlib province on September 25, 2022 [Aaref Watad/ AFP]

Damascus, September 27 (RHC)-- At least 29 people have been killed due to a cholera outbreak in several regions of Syria, in what the United Nations has called the worst outbreak in the war-torn country for years.  Rapid assessment testing confirmed 338 cases since the outbreak was first recorded last month, with the bulk of deaths and cases in the northern Aleppo province, the Syrian health ministry said in a statement on Monday.

The UN this month said the outbreak was believed to be linked to the irrigation of crops using contaminated water and people drinking unsafe water from the Euphrates River, which bisects Syria from north to east.

The UN has made an urgent appeal for funds to control the outbreak as well as approvals to “ensure timely delivery” of life-saving medicine and supplies.  The highly contagious disease has also spread to the country’s Kurdish-held northeast and opposition areas in north and northwestern Syria, where millions have been displaced by the decade-old war in the country, medical officials said.

Suspected cholera cases have risen to 2,092 in the northeast of Syria since the outbreak was announced this month, said the United States-based International Rescue Committee (IRC), which operates in the region.  It said there were fears that cases had been significantly under-reported.