Bangladesh reports five more suspected measles deaths

Another 154 people test positive for the highly contagious virus

Five more people have died with measles symptoms across Bangladesh in the last 24 hours with no immediate end to the outbreak in sight.

In its daily bulletin on Thursday, the Directorate General of Health Services (DGHS) said 154 people were diagnosed with measles during that period.

Bangladesh has seen 93 deaths from confirmed measles cases since March 15.

Since then, another 631 patients with measles symptoms have died nationwide.

Alarmingly, most of the victims are children.

With 272 deaths from measles symptoms, Dhaka Division tops the toll list. Rajshahi Division comes second with 88 deaths, followed by 82 in Sylhet, 62 in Mymensingh, 51 in Chattogram, 40 in Barishal, 28 in Khulna and eight in Rangpur.

According to the DGHS, 965 sought treatment in the last 24 hours until 8am. Of them, 902 were hospitalised.

Since mid-March, 112,993 people have been hospitalised across the country. At least 12,286 of them tested positive for the virus.

So far, 82,759 out of 86,411 patients have been discharged after treatment.