Published : 04 Apr 2026, 04:15 AM
Updated : 21 Aug 2026, 03:33 PM
Another four children have been diagnosed with measles and 16 others hospitalised with symptoms of the highly contagious airborne disease in Chattogram, according to the district civil surgeon’s office.
The 16 admissions were reported in different hospitals on Friday, when the total number of such patients surged to 87, the office says.
Civil Surgeon Dr Jahangir Alam told bdnews24.com that a vaccination campaign will start in the district as elsewhere in the country on Sunday to control the measles outbreak.
Children aged between 6 months and 10 years will get the jabs in Chittagong city and 15 Upazilas, he said.
The four new cases took the number of measles patients to 12 as of Friday afternoon. Two of the new patents are from the port city and the rest from separate Upazilas.
Also on Friday, samples of 32 patients showing symptoms were sent to Dhaka from Chattogram for testing.
Since the outbreak, three children died while undergoing treatment in Chattogram with measles symptoms. Two of them were residents of Cox's Bazar and the other hailed from Noakhali.
Regarding the vaccination, the civil surgeon said: “One dose of MR (measles-rubella) vaccine will be given in the sub-blocks of the wards of each Union under all Upazila health complexes.
“Initially, emphasis will be given to vaccination in hotspots or areas with high risk of infection of this disease in the district.”
The entire district will be brought under vaccination in phases, concluded Jahangir.
The government on Friday said 42 new cases were confirmed nationwide over the past 24 hours, while 947 patients were admitted to hospitals with symptoms.
The Directorate General of Health Services said three patients with measles symptoms died during the period.
