Five children died with symptoms consistent with measles in the 24 hours until 8:00am on Friday, bringing Bangladesh’s combined tally of confirmed and suspected measles-related deaths to 729.

The Directorate General of Health Services (DGHS) has classified the latest deaths as suspected measles fatalities.

With the latest update, the number of suspected measles deaths has risen to 636, while the number of laboratory-confirmed measles deaths remained unchanged at 93.

A total of 968 new suspected measles cases were reported during the 24-hour period, bringing the cumulative number of suspected cases nationwide to 103,961.

Meanwhile, 139 new confirmed measles cases were recorded, bringing the total number of laboratory-confirmed infections to 12,425.

Since March 15, a total of 87,262 patients with suspected measles have been hospitalised across the country, of whom 83,543 have recovered, according to DGHS data.