Situation With Infectious Diseases in Kherson Region Remaining Stable - Russian Watchdog

MOSCOW (Sputnik) - The situation with infectious diseases in the Kherson Region remains stable and the authorities are taking measures to minimize potential risks after the flooding caused by the destruction of the Kakhovka dam, Russian health care and consumer rights watchdog Rospotrebnadzor said on Tuesday.

"Timely monitoring and assessment of infectious morbidity among the population in the area of emergency are being carried out. At the moment, the situation is stable," Rospotrebnadzor said in a statement, adding that it was also taking measures to minimize risks of dissemination of infectious diseases in the area affected by the flooding.

Rospotrebnadzor also said that it continued to monitor environmental conditions in Kherson Region, assessing the quality of the water there. Over 350 water samples from different sources across the region have been tested, it added.

The watchdog stated that there were also enough vaccines to immunize the local population, if necessary.

Earlier in the month, the Ukrainian Health Ministry warned that the risk of a potential cholera epidemic in the area remained a possibility, although it refuted the information spreading on social media about the detection of dangerous infections — the cholera bacillus and intestinal bacteria.

The upper part of the Kakhovka power plant on the Dnepr River was damaged overnight from June 5 to June 6. It was not destroyed completely, but its crumbling caused an uncontrollable outflow of water to towns on the Russian-controlled eastern bank of the river and the Ukrainian-held western bank. Moscow have blamed Kiev for the dam's destruction. Authorities in some of the affected areas evacuated the population.