AIZAWL, Nov 17: The death toll in the gastroenteritis outbreak sweeping across southern Mizoram has risen to nine, prompting authorities in Lawngtlai and Siaha districts to seal the international border with Myanmar and declare four affected villages as containment zones, state health officials said on Sunday.

Lawngtlai deputy commissioner Donny Lalruatsanga confirmed that one more person died on Friday night, taking the toll in Kakichhuah village to six. Nearly 30 residents showing symptoms including diarrhoea, vomiting, abdominal pain and fever have been identified in the area.

Preliminary assessments indicate that the outbreak may have been triggered by people crossing into Kakichhuah from Salachhuah village in Myanmar’s southern Chin State. Kakichhuah and neighbouring Hruitezawl, the primary entry point for arrivals from Myanmar, have now been sealed off as containment zones.

A medical response team led by the district’s senior chief medical officer, along with personnel from the World Health Organisation (WHO) and Doctors Without Borders, is monitoring the situation on the ground. According to Senior CMO Dr Lalmuanawma Jongte, three of the victims in Kakichhuah were refugees from Myanmar, while the remaining three were local residents. Samples of water and stool from affected individuals have been sent to Zoram Medical College & Hospital (ZMC&H) in Falkawn for testing, with results awaited.

Kakichhuah, a remote border village with around 130 households, hosts several refugees from the Khumi community from Myanmar’s Chin and Rakhine states. All six victims in the village belonged to this community.

In neighbouring Siaha district, three deaths have also been reported in Lodaw village, where nearly 30 suspected cases have surfaced across Lodaw and Lomasu. Medical teams have been deployed to both settlements, and additional samples have been dispatched to ZMC&H for laboratory analysis.