Measles: 7 more children die, 860 hospitalised in a day

Seven more people with measles or measles-like symptoms have died over a 24-hour period. Three of them had confirmed cases of the highly-infectious disease, while the remaining four were displaying symptoms consistent with it.

Since Mar 15, 52 people with measles and 198 with measles-like symptoms have died across the country, according to the regular bulletin on measles by the Directorate General of Health Services (DGHS) on Friday.

The Dhaka Division has seen the most deaths from measles or measles-like symptoms with 94. Rajshahi came second with 66.

DGHS says 172 measles infections were identified over the past 24 hours, while 1,125 came to hospitals with measles-like symptoms. Of them, 860 have been hospitalised.

Dhaka saw the most hospitalisations with 363 people admitted with measles-like symptoms. The lowest number – three – have been admitted in Rangpur.

The number of suspected measles cases since Mar 15 is 29,549. Of these, 4,231 have been diagnosed with measles.

Meanwhile, a vaccination program for 18 million children was launched nationwide from Apr 20. So far, 6,268,428 children have been vaccinated across the country so far. In addition, 1,072,890 children have been vaccinated in Bangladesh’s 12 city corporations.