Five more children died with measles-like symptoms across Bangladesh in the 24 hours ending at 8:00 am on Friday also pushing the combined death toll from suspected and confirmed cases to 1,304 since March.
According to a Directorate General of Health Services (DGHS) press release issued Friday afternoon, three of the latest fatalities occurred in Sylhet Division and one each in Dhaka and Mymensingh. No deaths were recorded among confirmed measles patients during this period.
Of the 1,304 total fatalities since mid-March 1,199 were patients with measles symptoms and 105 were confirmed cases. Dhaka Division has reported the highest number of symptom-related deaths at 535, followed by Sylhet (213), Chattogram (120), Rajshahi (93), Mymensingh (93), Barishal (70), Khulna (57), and Rangpur (18).
Health officials also recorded 1,419 new cases over the last 24 hours comprising 1,271 suspected and 148 confirmed infections. During the same timeframe hospitals admitted 1,172 symptomatic patients: 414 in Dhaka, 233 in Chattogram, 168 in Sylhet, 140 in Barishal, 80 in Mymensingh, 78 in Khulna, 45 in Rajshahi and 14 in Rangpur.
From March 15 to November 13, Bangladesh has logged 245,562 suspected measles cases with 25,028 testing positive. Out of 219,247 symptomatic patients admitted to hospitals nationwide 210,401 have recovered and been discharged.
The DGHS noted that its tally only reflects patients seeking hospital care and the true number of confirmed cases remains difficult to determine as not all patients are tested.
