The Syrian Ministry of Health has announced that 29 people have died from cholera in what the United Nations says is the worst outbreak in recent years in the war-torn country.

The Syrian health ministry said in a statement that rapid tests have confirmed 338 infections in the country since the outbreak began last month, and that most of the deaths and injuries have been in the northern province of Aleppo.

The ministry said there were 230 cases in Aleppo province, with 25 confirmed deaths. The remaining injuries are located in different parts of the country.

The United Nations noted this month that the outbreak is believed to be related to irrigating crops with contaminated water and drinking unsafe water from the Euphrates River, which bisects Syria from north to east.

Health officials said the highly contagious disease has also spread to Kurdish and opposition-controlled areas in northern and northwestern Syria, where millions have been displaced by the country’s decade-long conflict.