While progress has been made in response to the plague outbreak in Madagascar and the number of suspected new cases continues to decline the World Health Organization WHO said that sustaining operations through the remainder of the plague season will be critical as there is still a risk of potential further spread of the disease. WHO spokesperson Tarik Jasarevic said that as of 30 October a total of 1 801 confirmed probable and suspected cases of plague including 127 deaths had been reported. As of 30 October there are only 106 people receiving care in medical facilities he noted. Since the second week of October the number of new cases and the number of patients hospitalized owing to suspicion of plague has declined. While this trend is encouraging he said that WHO expects more cases of plague to be reported from Madagascar until the typical plague season ends in April 2018 UN November 3 2017