The United Nations has developed an alert system in Haiti to report new cases or resurgences of water-borne diseases, such as cholera, which has left 544 people dead, UN spokesman Farhan Haq said here Tuesday.

Nurses help a cholera victim into the Hopital de l'Universite d'Etat d'Haiti in Port-au-Prince on November 9, 2010. (Xinhua/AFP)

In Haiti, the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) "says that a Standard Operation Procedure for reporting new cases or resurgences of water-borne disease, such as cholera, has been developed to support the response to the epidemic," Haq said at a daily news briefing.

"This is an alert system that will allow quicker reporting in areas with non-confirmed cases of cholera and areas with confirmed cases," the spokesman said. "It will also help to identify 'hot spots' and actions to be taken."

In Haiti, OCHA "says that the government has to date reported 8, 138 hospitalized cases of cholera and 544 deaths due to the disease," Haq said. "Those cases were reported in the West, Northwest, North, Centre and Artibonite departments."

"Some 14 cholera treatment centres (CTCs) are functioning in the West, Artibonite and Centre departments, according to the World Health Organization (WHO)," the spokesman added.

VietNamNet/Xinhuanet