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A cholera-infected child receives medical treatment at a hospital in Sanaa, Yemen, on Oct. 6, 2018. At a cholera treatment center in Yemen's rebel-held capital Sanaa on Saturday, nearly all beds were occupied, with more suspected cholera cases arriving at an alarming rate. According to the World Health Organization, Yemen's cholera epidemic, which first erupted in April 2017, has infected 1.2 million people, 30 percent of whom are children, and killed 2,515. The WHO spokesman Tarik Jasarevic warned of a possible new surge of the epidemic because of the continuing conflict and all-out blockade. (Xinhua/Mohammed Mohammed)

by Mohamed al-Azaki

SANAA, Oct. 6 (Xinhua) -- At a cholera treatment center in Yemen's rebel-held capital Sanaa on Saturday, nearly all beds were occupied, with more suspected cholera cases arriving at an alarming rate.

Ismail Mansour al-Mansouri, chief doctor at the treatment center in Sabeen public hospital, said the center witnessed a rapid increase in the number of suspected cholera cases over the past two weeks.

"We have received more than 1,800 cases in these two weeks only ... there is an alarming increase in the epidemic rate," al-Mansouri told Xinhua.

The doctor expressed his fears that the center might not be able to cope with any sudden surge of the epidemic cases.

"The center is small in size, with nearly 45 beds. And there are not enough medicines because we have to receive them from international humanitarian aid agencies," al-Mansouri explained.

Nadiah al-Balah, a nurse in the treatment center, said the "confirmed cases" have increased during the past couple of weeks.

"The center receives up to 180 cases everyday during this week and the past week, compared to 60 daily cases over the past months," she said.

According to al-Balah, most of the cholera cases were children and women from neighborhoods in Sanaa, as the streets in the capital are not clean, flooded with sewerage and piles of rubbish bags.

Most of the infected had drunk water, eaten grapes or salad before falling ill, al-Balah told Xinhua.

Nearly 25 million Yemenis have no access to clean drinking water since a civil war erupted in March 2015. The residents have to fetch water by wheelbarrows or jugs from charity taps.

Halah Abdul Rahman al-Samiey, 18, is in coma at the cholera treatment center of Sabeen hospital.

Al-Mansouri said Halah is in critical condition because she has shown symptoms such as vomiting and severe diarrhea for more than a week.

Halah's father Abdul Ragman said he has no money to take her by taxi to other hospitals.

"I was a manger of a public school in Sanaa, but like thousands of the government employees, I did not receive any salary for more than two years," Rahman lamented.

In another bed, the two-year-old boy Attan Ahmed Ahsan has been under intensified care for a week for the deadly disease.

The boy came from Haraz district of the Red Sea province of Hodeidah. His father died during a battle in the western coast of the province.

His mother, Fatima, said she sold all her jewels to afford transporting her only child from Haraz to Sanaa to save his life.

According to the World Health Organization, Yemen's cholera epidemic, which first erupted in April 2017, has infected 1.2 million people, 30 percent of whom are children, and killed 2,515.

The WHO spokesman Tarik Jasarevic warned of a possible new surge of the epidemic because of the continuing conflict and all-out blockade.

"We have been seeing the increase in cholera cases in Yemen since June. This increase has been even more severe in the last three weeks," Jasarevic told a press briefing in Geneva this week.

Yemen, the poorest Arab country, is now on the brink of mass famine, with about half of the children under five chronically malnourished.

Still, there is no sign of a quick end to the war despite the peacemaking efforts by the UN, the latest of which was the last week's Geneva talks that collapsed after Houthi rebels refused to attend.