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Six more children died with measles and measles-like symptoms across Bangladesh in the 24 hours to 8am Monday, raising the combined death toll to 1,063 this year, according to the Directorate General of Health Services (DGHS).
All six latest deaths were classified as suspected measles fatalities, taking the number of suspected deaths to 962. Confirmed measles deaths remained at 101.
The DGHS reported 1,221 new suspected cases and 84 laboratory-confirmed infections during the period, bringing the cumulative figures to 181,035 suspected cases and 20,646 confirmed cases.
Since March 15, a total of 159,804 suspected measles patients have been hospitalised nationwide, with 153,448 recovering, the DGHS said.
Meanwhile, the government will launch another nationwide measles vaccination campaign on Sept 26, targeting 34 lakh children aged six months to 59 months. The campaign will continue until Oct 31.
Health and Family Welfare Minister Sardar Md Sakhawat Husain announced the campaign on Sunday, saying a previous nationwide drive from April to May 20 vaccinated 1.8 crore children, achieving 102-104% of the target with support from UNICEF, Gavi and WHO.
A subsequent vitamin A campaign found that around 43 lakh children had missed the earlier measles vaccination drive. Another 10 lakh children have since turned six months old and become eligible for vaccination, bringing the target for the new campaign to 34 lakh.