Islamabad, Pakistan – Water-borne diseases are a new concern in flood-ravaged Pakistan, with the authorities reporting at least nine such deaths in the last 24 hours, according to government data.

All the deaths caused by diarrhoea, malaria and gastroenteritis were reported in the southeastern Sindh province where more than 300 people have died of flood-related ailments since July.

Sindh officials said more than 500,000 people are still displaced by the calamity and living in makeshift camps across the province.

Meanwhile, the National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA) on Tuesday said the death toll in the catastrophic floods has risen to 1,559.

Pakistan was battered by record rains and melting glaciers beginning in the middle of June. The floods at one point submerged one-third of the nation of 220 million people, destroying more than a million homes and dozens of roads, railways and bridges.