Measles claim 4 more lives; death toll stands at 867

Four more children died with measles and measles-like symptoms in 24 hours until 8:00am on Saturday, bringing the country’s combined tally of confirmed and suspected measles-related deaths to 867 this year.

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

With this, the total number of confirmed deaths from measles has risen to 98 and suspected deaths to 769.

A total of 677 new suspected measles cases were reported during the 24-hour period, bringing the cumulative number of suspected cases nationwide to 135,332.

Meanwhile, 99 new confirmed measles cases were recorded, bringing the total number of laboratory-confirmed infections to 17,040.

Since March 15 this year, a total of 117,444 patients with suspected measles have been hospitalised across the country, of whom 113,200 have recovered, according to DGHS data.