Another child dies with measles symptoms as outbreak toll reaches 1,205
Another child has died with measles-like symptoms in the country in the past 24 hours. With this, the total number of deaths from measles and measles symptoms since the outbreak began has reached 1,205.
The figures were released on Wednesday (October 21) in a press release sent from the control room of the Directorate General of Health Services.
Over the same period, a further 1,010 children were affected by measles and measles symptoms across the country. In other words, more than a thousand children are falling ill with the disease or its symptoms every day.
The report said measles was confirmed through tests in 13 children in the past 24 hours. In addition, 997 children received treatment with measles symptoms.
According to the health directorate, from March 15 to October 21 this year, 1,101 children died with measles symptoms. Over the same period, a further 104 children died of laboratory-confirmed measles.
The total number of suspected measles patients in the country now stands at 216,765. Of them, 23,212 are confirmed measles cases.
A total of 192,695 patients have been admitted to hospitals so far. Of them, 185,110 have returned home after completing treatment and receiving discharge papers.
At the Infectious Diseases Hospital in the capital's Mohakhali, relatives are caring for children being treated with measles-like symptoms. A photograph of a father holding his sick child close captures the current scene inside the hospitals.
The death toll passing 1,200 shows that, months after the outbreak began, measles transmission among children has not stopped. More children are joining the list of the newly infected every day.
With suspected patients exceeding two hundred thousand and confirmed cases passing 23,000, the scale of the disease's spread across the country is clear.
The health directorate's control room is publishing daily updates. It remains to be seen whether this trend of infections and deaths eases in the coming days.
