3 children die with measles-like symptoms in 24 hours

Three children died with measles-like symptoms in the 24 hours until 8:00am on Friday, bringing the country’s combined tally of confirmed and suspected measles-related deaths to 1,147 this year.

The Directorate General of Health Services (DGHS) classified all three 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 1,043, while confirmed deaths from measles have remained the same at 104.

A total of 1,268 new suspected measles cases were reported during the 24-hour period, taking the cumulative number of suspected cases nationwide to 202,893.

Meanwhile, 81 new confirmed measles cases were recorded, pushing laboratory-confirmed infections to 22,197.

Since March 15 this year, a total of 180,079 patients with suspected measles have been hospitalised across the country, of whom 172,705 have recovered, according to the DGHS.