Iraq in state of emergency after cholera outbreak

Hilla: Iraqi authorities declared a state of emergency on Monday after cholera killed eight people in Babil province south of Baghdad.

Twenty other cases of cholera have been confirmed, with another 500 people suspected to have contracted the disease.

Six cases of cholera have also been detected and 64 more suspected cases been reported in the southern province of Maysan, officials said.

The government said it had dispatched a delegation from the Environment Ministry to combat the spread of the disease.

Officials said lack of clean drinking water and soaring temperatures caused the cholera outbreak.