Five children died with measles-like symptoms in the 24 hours to 8am on Monday, taking the country’s combined tally of confirmed and suspected measles-related deaths to 878 this year.

The Directorate General of Health Services (DGHS) classified all five latest fatalities as suspected measles deaths. No confirmed measles deaths were reported during the period.

The number of suspected measles deaths has now reached 780, while confirmed deaths remain at 98.

A total of 992 new suspected measles cases were reported during the 24-hour period, taking the cumulative number of suspected cases nationwide to 137,312.

Meanwhile, 163 new laboratory-confirmed measles cases were recorded, bringing the total number of confirmed infections to 17,278.

Since March 15 this year, a total of 119,322 patients with suspected measles have been hospitalised across the country. Of them, 115,139 have recovered, according to DGHS data.