ZIMBABWE has embarked on a massive vaccination drive as it battles a cholera outbreak that has killed at least 49 people.

Health minister Obadiah Moyo said the vaccination campaign, with help from the World Health Organisation, plans to target 500,000 people by Sunday.

Moyo said close to one million more people will be vaccinated starting next week.

The government said the outbreak has sickened approximately 9000 people, mostly in the capital Harare, since last month.

Many fear a repeat of 2008, when cholera killed more than 4000 people at the height of the country’s economic and political problems.

Water and sewer infrastructure has collapsed, with raw sewage flowing freely in some Harare streets.

President Emmerson Mnangagwa has vowed to fight the “medieval” disease.