Around 25 people died of cholera epidemic and acute watery diarrhea in Yemen's southern port city of Lahj during the past two months, a medical source said on Saturday.

The source of Lahj's Health Department said on condition of anonymity that "there is an increase in the death cases in Lahj as a result of cholera and acute watery diarrhea in recent months."

He said that the emergency statistics at the Health Department of Lahj indicated that nearly 4,500 people are affected with cholera according to medical tests.

The epidemic of cholera largely hits rural areas and villages in the southern province of Lahj due to the lack of health care there.

The health sector has been badly affected by the war in Yemen, which allowed the spread of cholera and other infectious diseases.

Cholera in Yemen has set the world's highest record with infection of over 1 million people and over 2,000 have been confirmed dead since 2017, according to the WHO.

AFP