Measles: 9 more children die in a day

Since Mar 15, 47 people have died of confirmed cases of the disease, while another 226 have died with measles-like symptoms

Nine more people with measles and measles-like symptoms have died in Bangladesh over a 24-hour period.

Of them, three had confirmed cases of measles, while the other six had symptoms consistent with the highly-infectious disease.

The regular bulletin on measles from the Directorate General of Health Services (DGHS) on Friday said that 47 people have died of measles across the country since Mar 15.

In addition, 226 people with measles-like symptoms have died over the same period.

Dhaka Division has reported the highest number of deaths at 105, followed by Rajshahi with 70.

In the last 24 hours, 163 new confirmed cases were recorded.

A total of 1,276 patients with symptoms were admitted to hospitals during the period, of whom 906 were hospitalised.

Dhaka, once again, saw the highest number of hospital admissions in the past 24 hours with 376. Rangpur saw the least admissions with five.

Since Mar 15, a total of 34,662 suspected cases have been recorded nationwide, including 4,856 confirmed infections.

A nationwide vaccination drive targeting 18 million children began on Apr 20.

So far, 9.42 million children have been vaccinated across eight divisions, along with 1.33 million in city corporations.