The devastation by Tropical Cyclone Freddy is exposing major health risks in the hardest-hit southern African countries, amid the ongoing and exacerbated cholera outbreaks across the continent, warned the World Health Organization (WHO) Thursday, Azernews reports citing Xinhua.

Since the cyclone made landfall in Madagascar, Mozambique and Malawi, the devastation has raised public health risks, as the cyclone tore through amid cholera outbreaks in Malawi and Mozambique, said the WHO Regional Office for Africa, based in Brazzaville, capital of the Republic of the Congo.

According to the WHO Regional Office, cholera cases had more than doubled in Mozambique over the past week from 1,023 to 2,374 as of March 20.

Though Malawi, which is battling its worst-ever cholera outbreak on record, continued to record a decline, with cases falling to 1,424 as of March 20 compared with 1,956 the previous week, the widespread flooding might still reverse the recent progress made against the disease.

In February, the WHO Regional Office for Africa warned that if the current fast-rising trend of cholera continues, this year's infections could surpass the number of cases recorded in 2021, the worst year for cholera in Africa in nearly a decade.