The health authorities registered two more children's deaths with symptoms consistent with measles in the past 24 hours until Tuesday 8:0 am.
With the new fatalities, the number of measles-related deaths rose to 718 since mid-March this year, of which 93 were confirmed cases, according to the Directorate General of Health Services (DGHS) bulletin.
Meanwhile, as many as 866 suspected and 114 confirmed measles infections were recorded in the said 24 hours. The total suspected measles infections rose to 101,077 and confirmed infections to 11,965 since mid-March, said DGHS.
In response to a measles outbreak rapidly spreading across the country, the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare has rolled out an emergency measles-rubella vaccination campaign, targeting children aged 6 months to 5 years since April 5.
The government has already vaccinated over 18.47 million children since April and the immunisation programme will continue.
Measles is a highly contagious viral disease, which affects individuals of all ages and remains one of the leading causes of death among young children globally.
It is usually a mild or moderately severe disease. However, measles can lead to complications such as pneumonia, diarrhea, secondary ear infection, inflammation of the brain (encephalitis), blindness, and death.
Meanwhile, DGHS on the day registered a total of 180 new dengue infections and no new fatalities in a single 24-hour reporting period.
The total dengue fatalities since January this year climbed to 18 on Monday with single-day deaths being tallied at five. Of the total, DGHS recorded 13 deaths in June alone.
The number of dengue patients admitted to hospitals this year has risen to 6,104. Of them, 5,632 have recovered and left hospitals.
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