United News of Bangladesh

Five more children have died in Sylhet in the last 24 hours showing symptoms of measles, taking the death toll in the Sylhet division to 47, officials said on Friday morning. They said this is the highest number of deaths recorded in a single day in the division from measles-like symptoms. Of the deceased, two died at Sylhet MAG Osmani Medical College Hospital, two at Shaheed Shamsuddin Ahmed Hospital, and one at Sunamganj Sadar Hospital. A total of 283 patients with measles symptoms are currently receiving treatment in different hospitals across the division. Although no new lab-confirmed cases were reported in the last 24 hours, 74 suspected patients were admitted to hospitals. Director General of Health Services data shows that 158 laboratory-confirmed measles cases have been recorded in the division between January 1 and May 22 this year. Officials said four of the deceased children were confirmed measles patients, while the rest were suspected cases. Meanwhile, 20 intensive care unit (ICU) beds have been prepared at Sylhet MAG Osmani Medical College Hospital and 14 at Shaheed Shamsuddin Ahmed Hospital to treat severe cases.

Ten children died from measles and symptoms consistent with the highly contagious but preventable disease in the country in 24 hours till 8:00am on Sunday, according to the Directorate General of Health Services (DGHS). Of the new deaths, one was confirmed as measles-related, while the remaining nine were classified as suspected. Of the suspected deaths, highest four were recorded in Dhaka. With this, the total number of confirmed deaths from measles has risen to 50 and suspected deaths to 244 since March 15. According to DGHS data, a total of 1,166 suspected measles cases were recorded in the past 24 hours. Since March 15, the total number of suspected cases has reached 40,491. During this period, 95 new confirmed measles cases were reported, bringing the total number of confirmed infections to 5,313. Since March 15, a total of 27,816 suspected measles patients have been hospitalised, while 24,090 of them have recovered.