Six more children die with measles symptoms, toll reaches 1,140

Six more children died with measles or measles-like symptoms in the 24 hours to 8am on Wednesday, raising the country’s combined tally of confirmed and suspected measles-related deaths to 1,140 this year.

According to the Directorate General of Health Services (DGHS), two of the latest deaths were confirmed as measles-related, while the other four were classified as suspected cases.

The latest figures take the total number of confirmed measles-related deaths to 104 and suspected deaths to 1,036.

During the same period, 1,280 new suspected measles cases were reported, taking the cumulative number of suspected cases nationwide to 200,293.

Another 110 laboratory-confirmed cases were recorded, bringing the total number of confirmed measles infections to 22,020.

Since March 15, a total of 177,676 patients with suspected measles have been hospitalised across the country, according to DGHS data. Of them, 170,473 have recovered.