The health authorities on Friday reported seven more deaths, including three confirmed fatalities, due to measles and suspected infections.
The total number of deaths rose to 240, including 42 confirmed casualties.
As many as 1,215 measles-like infections and 172 confirmed cases were also reported in the past 24 hours until Friday morning, according to the Directorate General of Heath Services (DGHS). Geographically, cases have been reported across all eight divisions, in 58 out of 64 districts (91 per cent of districts), indicating widespread transmission nationally, said the WHO in an assessment late Thursday.
Children aged under five years account for the majority of reported cases (79 per cent), including children aged under two years (66 per cent) and infants aged under nine months (33 per cent).
The highest cumulative burden of suspected measles cases since 15 March 2026 has been reported in Dhaka (8,263 cases).
In Dhaka, cases are concentrated in densely populated informal settlements, including Demra, Jatrabari, Kamrangirchar, Korail, Mirpur, and Tejgaon industrial and slum clusters.
Measles is a highly contagious viral disease that affects individuals of all ages and remains one of the leading causes of death among young children globally, says WHO. It is usually a mild or moderately severe disease.
However, measles can lead to complications such as pneumonia, diarrhoea, secondary ear infection, inflammation of the brain (encephalitis), blindness, and death.
Following the surge in infections of the virus in the country, the government launched a nationwide measles vaccination programme on April 20.
Vaccinating children aged between six and 59 months is essential to controlling the disease, according to health experts.
Bangladesh had made a substantial progress towards measles elimination before this outbreak.
However, recent declines in MR1 and MR2 coverage due to nationwide stockout of MR vaccine between 2024 and 2025, combined with routine immunisation gaps and the absence of regular nationwide supplementary measles-rubella campaigns since 2020 have increased the number of susceptible children and contributed to the current outbreak.
The risk at the national level is assessed as high due to ongoing transmission across multiple divisions, the large number of susceptible children, documented immunity gaps, and the occurrence of suspected measles-related deaths, says WHO.
Measles is endemic across the South-East Asia region. The risk is assessed as high at the regional level.
Bangladesh shares extensive land borders with India and Myanmar, and population mobility across these borders may facilitate continued transmission.
Meanwhile, the total caseloads jumped to 29,549 including 4,231 confirmed cases, according to the DGHS.
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