Alwaght- At least 2,018 people have been killed by a cholera epidemic in Yemen amid ongoing Saudi bombardments since late April, the World Health Organization (WHO) said Saturday.
In a statement, the WHO said 565,041 suspected cases of cholera have been recorded in the country since April 27.
According to the WHO statement, the recorded suspected cases were in 22 out of 23 provinces.
The UN agency said the highest number of fatalities -- 382 cases -- was recorded in the northwestern Hajjah province, while in western Yemen’s Hudaida province only around 70,000 suspected cases were recorded.
Saudi-led airstrikes and a blockade on fuel and other supplies have left civilians in many areas across Yemen vulnerable to cholera, and less able to get antibiotics and other life-saving help than those in other parts of the Arab world's poorest nation.
The Norwegian Refugee Council and other charities have urged the Saudi-led coalition, which controls Yemen's airspace, to permit flights to the country's main airport in the capital Sanaa, to receive aid and allow sick and injured Yemenis to fly abroad for treatment. The Saudi regime and its allies have rejected this request.
A Saudi-led coalition started a bloody aggression on Yemen in March 2015 to oust the popular Ansarullah movement and restore to power fugitive Abdul Rabbuh Mansour Hadi who resigned as president and fled to Riyadh. The Saudis have failed to achieve their stated objective and are now stuck in the Yemen quagmire while indiscriminately bombarding the impoverished stated on an almost daily basis.
The Saudi war on Yemen, one of the world's most impoverished countries, has killed nearly 13,000 people and left tens of thousands wounded while displacing millions.
According to the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), over 3 million people have fled their homes since the onset of the Yemen conflict, and more than 20 million throughout the country are in need of humanitarian assistance.
