Five more children died from measles and measles-like symptoms in the 24 hours to 8am on Thursday, taking the country’s combined tally of confirmed and suspected measles-related deaths to 1,081 this year.

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

The number of suspected measles deaths has now reached 980, while confirmed measles deaths remain at 101, according to the DGHS.

A total of 1,183 new suspected measles cases were reported during the 24-hour period, taking the nationwide cumulative number to 184,632.

Meanwhile, 100 new laboratory-confirmed measles cases were recorded, bringing the total number of confirmed infections to 20,951.

Since March 15 this year, 163,153 patients with suspected measles have been hospitalised nationwide, of whom 156,744 have recovered, according to DGHS data.