MOSCOW -- The number of cholera cases in Russia's central city of Kazan reached 65 Saturday, despite the authorities' earlier claim that the cholera outbreak was dying down, AFP quoted Russian news agencies as saying on Sunday.

The new patients, including 34 children, were registered among the 251 people who had been hospitalized earlier with suspected cholera cases, Health Ministry officials said as quoted by the Ria-Novosti news agency.

The outbreak of cholera, said to have spread as a result of young people swimming in a city lake, could also be blamed on a small river near the city which had been polluted by untreated sewage waste, health officials said.

Fears of a possible cholera epidemic, which were sparked earlier last week as three Kazan residents were taken in for a check-up in Moscow, were laid to rest when it was discovered that none had contracted the disease, officials added.

Earlier in the week officials ruled out imposing a quarantine on the city.

The last reported incidence of cholera in Kazan was 29 years ago.