Harare - The death toll from the cholera outbreak in Zimbabwe has now passed the 3 000 mark, the United Nation's World Health Organisation (WHO) has said.
On Wednesday, the WHO said a total of 3 028 people have died from the cholera outbreak and 57 702 have been affected since August.
The latest figures represent an increase of more than 1 000 deaths in the past 15 days in the country.
The epidemic of the water-borne disease has been fuelled by the collapse of Zimbabwe's water, sanitation and health systems.
WHO said the epidemic was spinning out of control as rains aided the spread of the disease.
"It's one of the worst and largest outbreaks of cholera," WHO spokesperson Fadela Chaib said, adding that the situation was not under control.
"It's out of control, and it will remain so for the near future. We're seeing the worst-case scenario of 60 000 within reach."
The worst-case scenario involves one percent of a vulnerable population being infected and in Zimbabwe's case this would be about 60 000 people out of a population of about 12 million, Mr Chaib said.
The cholera epidemic is one of the most visible signs of Zimbabwe's deepening economic and humanitarian crisis that is marked by acute shortages of food and basic commodities.
Monday's 15-nation Southern African Development Community (SADC) meeting in Pretoria said the MDC was ready to form a unity government with Zanu-PF by mid-February.
Mugabe and Tsvangirai agreed to share power last September but the rivals have not been able to agree on how to allocate key government jobs.
As the arguments continue, Zimbabwe is lurching towards economic collapse.
