HANOI, April 3 (Xinhua) -- Cholera has spread to 10 Vietnamese northern localities, affecting 85 people since March 5, local newspaper Saigon Liberation reported Thursday.

    Hanoi capital has been the hardest-hit locality with 44 cases, the paper quoted Nguyen Huy Nga, head of the Preventive Medicine Department under the Vietnamese Ministry of Health, as saying.

    Other affected localities include Hai Phong city, and the provinces of Ha Tay, Bac Ninh, Thanh Hoa, Phu Tho, Bac Giang, Nam Dinh, Ha Nam and Vinh Phuc.

    Most of the patients ate unsafe food such as raw shrimp paste, seafood salad and puddings. The country is now facing high risk of the disease's spread to central and southern regions in the approaching summer, said Deputy Minister of Health Trinh Quan Huan.

    To prevent the disease's spread, the ministry has called for relevant agencies and local people to monitor food safety, ensure environmental hygiene, and raise public awareness on the diseases.