In Bangladesh, six more children died due to measles-like symptoms in the last 24 hours till 8 am on Sunday (May 17). With this the number of deaths in the country has increased to 459. ‘United News of Bangladesh’ (UNB) said in one of its reports that the Directorate General of Health Services (DGHS) has declared one of these deaths as measles-related, while the remaining five deaths have been considered suspicious.
So far, the number of confirmed deaths due to measles has reached 75, while 384 deaths have been kept in the suspicious category.
According to DGHS data, 1,274 suspected cases of measles were reported in the last 24 hours. With this the total number of cases has increased to 57,846. According to the report, “243 new confirmed cases of measles were reported in the last 24 hours, bringing the total number of infected people to 7,767.”
Since March 15, 42,092 suspected patients have been admitted to hospital, out of which 37,744 people have recovered and returned home.
Also on Saturday, 12 children died in Bangladesh due to measles and measles-like symptoms. According to Bangladesh’s leading newspaper ‘The Daily Star’, measles was confirmed in four of these children, while the remaining eight children had symptoms like the disease.
Amid the rapid spread of the infection, health experts have appealed to the Bangladesh government to give priority to the ongoing measles vaccination campaign. Besides, it has also been advised to create ‘fever corners’ (fever testing centres) in local health centres, so that diseases like measles and pneumonia can be detected early.
This appeal was made at a joint press conference organized by Bangladesh Lung Foundation and Chest and Heart Association of Bangladesh in Dhaka.
On Wednesday, protesters under the banner ‘Socheton Nagrik Samaj’ formed a human chain in Dhaka’s Dhanmondi 27 area. He demanded action against former interim government chief advisor Muhammad Yunus and his health advisor Noorjahan Begum over the measles deaths. The demand for compensation to the victim’s families was also raised.
More than 400 people have died in Bangladesh since mid-March. In a recent report, this entire matter was described as an ‘avoidable crisis’. The report alleged that the previous interim government led by Yunus ended the already functioning vaccine procurement system, but could not properly set up a new system in its place.
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