Dhaka: As Bangladesh grapples with an unprecedented measles outbreak, eight more children died from symptoms of the disease on Saturday, pushing the death toll in 2026 to 1155, local media reported.
According to the Directorate General of Health Services (DGHS), the deaths were reported in the 24 hours leading up to Saturday morning.
The latest eight fatalities from the disease were identified as suspected, Bangladeshi media outlet UNB reported. Reports suggest that while the number of confirmed deaths remained at 104, the total number of suspected deaths climbed to 1,051. The DGHS recorded a total of 955 new suspected measles cases during the 24-hour period, bringing the overall tally of suspected cases to 203,848.
Additionally, 131 new confirmed cases were reported, increasing the total to 22, 328 during the same period.
Despite Bangladesh reinstating vaccine procurement through UNICEF in April, followed by an emergency vaccination drive, the epidemic is unlikely to be quickly contained given the speed of transmission, said Be-nazir Ahmed, former director of disease control at DGHS, Bangladesh’s leading newspaper ‘The Daily Star’ reported.
Last week, public health experts linked the resurgence to gaps in previous vaccination coverage and shortcomings in hospital and patient management, including delays in detecting infected children and isolating them at home.
Speaking to ‘The Daily Star’, public health expert Mushtuq Husain said children generally need three to four weeks after vaccination to develop sufficient immunity. “Therefore, the current wave of infections, hospitalisations and deaths may continue for at least another month,” he added.
Recently, a leading international advocacy group described the 2026 measles outbreak as one of Bangladesh’s worst public health crisis in recent history, highlighting the concern that the disease is preventable through vaccination.
In its report titled ‘Preventable Tragedy: Bangladesh’s 2026 Measles Outbreak’, Canada-based Global Centre for Democratic Governance (GCDG) said that although the measles outbreak appeared sudden to the public, it was not an unexpected event from an “epidemiological perspective”.
The report noted that the crisis resulted from a combination of disruptions to vaccine supply and health programs in 2024-2025 during the former interim government led by Muhammad Yunus, along with missed routine vaccinations, cancellations of scheduled supplementary immunisation programmes, administrative delays in vaccine procurement, and a failure to promptly identify at-risk populations.
–IANS–
