Dhaka, May 17 (IANS) Six more children died from symptoms similar to measles in Bangladesh in 24 hours till 8 a.m. on Sunday, bringing the death toll to 459, as the country grapples with a worsening health crisis, according to local media reports.
One death was confirmed as measles-related by the Directorate General of Health Services (DGHS), while the remaining five were classified as suspected, the United News of Bangladesh (UNB) noted in a report.
With this, the confirmed number of deaths from measles has reached 75, while the suspected deaths are now at 384.
In the 24 hours, a total of 1,274 suspected measles cases were recorded, bringing the total cases to 57,846 during the period, the report said according to the DGHS data.
“During the last 24 hours, 243 new confirmed cases of measles were reported, which brought the total number of confirmed infections to 7,767,” the report added.
42,092 suspected measles patients were hospitalised since March 15, of which 37,744 have recovered.
On Saturday, at least 12 more children died of measles and measles-like symptoms in Bangladesh. Among the 12 deaths, four were confirmed measles cases, while the remaining eight children died with symptoms of the disease, Bangladesh’s leading newspaper, The Daily Star, reported.
Amid the rapid spread of the infection, health experts have called on the Bangladesh government to prioritise the ongoing measles vaccination campaign and set up “fever corners” at local health complexes to facilitate early detection of diseases such as measles and pneumonia.
The appeal was made during a joint press conference organised by the Bangladesh Lung Foundation and the Chest and Heart Association of Bangladesh in Dhaka, the report noted.
On Wednesday, a group of protesters under the banner of ‘Socheton Nagorik Samaj’ reportedly formed a human chain in Dhaka’s Dhanmondi 27 area, calling for the trial of the former interim government’s chief advisor Muhammad Yunus and his health advisor Nurjahan Begum over the measles-related deaths, along with compensation for the victims’ families.
As measles has killed more than 400 individuals since mid-March across Bangladesh, a recent report described the outbreak as an “avoidable disaster” and called for accountability from the previous interim government led by Yunus, who dismantled a functional vaccine procurement system without the capacity to rebuild it.
–IANS
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