Maputo, March 2 (RHC)--​ The death toll from a cholera epidemic in northern and western Mozambique has risen to 41 since the country was hit by widespread flooding in December.

Mozambique Ministry of Health spokesman, Quinhas Fernandes, told a press conference on Monday that 4,518 cases of cholera and 41 deaths have been recorded since December 25, 2014.

The number of confirmed cases has more than doubled and the number of fatalities has risen by almost 50 percent over the past two weeks.

The spread of cholera went up after widespread flooding broke out in Mozambique between December and January, killing 158 people and affecting 170,000.

According to Fernandes, the worst-hit region is the western province of Tete, where more than 1,650 cases have been recorded over the past two months.

Although Tete was not hit by the flooding, the pace of infection is the highest there while elsewhere the situation is stabilizing. There have been 1,562 cholera cases only in the provincial capital city of Tete.

The city has a poor supply of drinking water, unhealthy sanitation and high population density which have contributed to the rapid spread of the disease, Fernandes added.

Mozambique regularly suffers outbreaks of cholera and diarrhea during summer, between October and March, when the country faces heavy rains and floods.