Seven children die with measles-like symptoms in 24 hours

Seven children died with measles-like symptoms in the 24 hours until 8:00am on Sunday, bringing the country’s combined tally of confirmed and suspected measles-related deaths to 1,162 this year.

The Directorate General of Health Services (DGHS) classified all seven latest fatalities as suspected measles deaths, reporting no confirmed deaths from the highly contagious airborne disease during the period.

With this, the total number of suspected measles deaths has reached 1,058, while confirmed deaths from measles have remained the same at 104.

A total of 1,180 new suspected measles cases were reported during the 24-hour period, taking the cumulative number of suspected cases nationwide to 205,028.

Meanwhile, 93 new confirmed measles cases were recorded, pushing laboratory-confirmed infections to 22,421.

Since March 15 this year, a total of 182,047 patients with suspected measles have been hospitalised across the country, of whom 174,469 have recovered, according to the DGHS.