BD records record-high 17 measles deaths in 24 hours

Bangladesh has recorded another record-high daily death toll from measles and measles-like symptoms, with 17 children dying in the past 24 hours until 8am on Monday, according to the Directorate General of Health Services (DGHS).

The latest fatalities pushed the total death toll from the ongoing outbreak to 545 since 15 March this year.

This is the second time Bangladesh has recorded 17 measles-related deaths in a single day - the highest daily toll since the outbreak began. The country previously reported the same number of deaths on 4 May.

Among the newly reported deaths, one was laboratory-confirmed as measles-related, while the remaining 16 were categorised as suspected cases.

According to DGHS data, the highest number of suspected deaths - five - was recorded in Dhaka Division.

With the latest update, the total number of suspected measles deaths has increased to 458, while confirmed deaths now stand at 87.

Health authorities also reported 1,127 new suspected measles infections during the last 24 hours, taking the cumulative number of suspected cases nationwide to 64,940.

At the same time, 97 new confirmed measles cases were detected, raising the total confirmed infections to 8,719 since the outbreak began.

DGHS figures further showed that 51,585 suspected measles patients have so far been hospitalised across the country. Of them, 47,619 patients have recovered after treatment.

The highly contagious but vaccine-preventable disease continues to spread across several parts of the country amid growing concern among health experts over rising infections and fatalities.