Five more children died of measles-like infections in the past 24 hours, with 1,358 new cases reported, health authorities said on Wednesday.
Of the new infections, 129 were confirmed measles cases, while the rest showed measles-like symptoms, according to the Directorate General of Health Services (DGHS) daily bulletin.
A total of 228 children have died over the past one month since March 15 from measles and related symptoms, including 38 confirmed deaths from the disease.
During the same period, total infections rose to 27,164, including 3,934 confirmed cases, the DGHS said.
Since March 15, some 17,998 patients have been admitted to hospitals nationwide, of whom 14,892 have recovered and returned home.
Amid the surge, the government has launched a nationwide measles vaccination campaign.
Health experts stressed that ensuring vaccination coverage for children aged between six and 59 months is crucial to controlling the outbreak.
They warned that the situation has worsened as herd immunity has weakened due to low vaccination coverage in recent years. While measles cases typically rise globally during summer, Bangladesh is facing a severe outbreak driven by inadequate immunisation, experts added. Prime Minister Tarique Rahman on Wednesday indicated that the previous interim government is responsible for the vaccine shortage in the country.
He said that during the tenure of the interim government, measles vaccines for children were not imported from abroad, which he described as "extremely unfortunate."
The prime minister disclosed this information while responding to a supplementary question in the National Parliament. The session was presided over by Speaker Hafiz Uddin Ahmed.
He said, his government has procured vaccines in the shortest possible time with the assistance of UNICEF and has set a target to vaccinate 20 million children.
Replying to a question from Gazipur-4 Member of Parliament Salahuddin, Rahman said it was unfortunate that the interim government- which had been supported to ensure a free and fair election- failed to import measles vaccines for children over the past few years.
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