The deadly Legionnaires’ outbreak gripping Harlem has city officials in hot water — as locals accused them Friday of dropping the ball on life-saving inspections and needlessly slow-walking revealing exactly where the disease hit.

Four people in New York City's Harlem neighbourhood have died from an outbreak of Legionnaires' disease, an aggressive and potentially deadly form of pneumonia. The city has seen 99 confirmed cases with 17 people in hospital with the infection, according to the New York City Department of Health.

New York City’s ongoing outbreak of Legionnaires’ disease in Central Harlem, which has killed three people and sickened dozens more, is the latest in a series of similar clusters that have made headlines in recent years, usually in the summer months.