Dhaka, May 11 (IANS) At least 11 people have died from measles and measles-like symptoms in Bangladesh, taking the total number of confirmed and suspected deaths linked to the outbreak to 409, according to local media reports.
According to the Directorate General of Health Services (DGHS), the deaths were reported in the 24 hours leading up to Sunday.
The DGHS said that four people died from confirmed measles, taking the overall confirmed deaths since March 15 to 65, while seven additional deaths linked to suspected cases were recorded, bringing the total suspected deaths to 344, Bangladeshi daily Dhaka Tribune reported.
During the same 24-hour period, 1,503 suspected measles patients were recorded, taking the overall tally since March 15 to 49,159. Among these, 205 were confirmed measles cases, pushing the total confirmed cases to 6,819.
Reports suggest that since March 15, hospitals have admitted 34,909 patients with measles symptoms.
As measles has killed more than 400 individuals since mid-March across Bangladesh, a report described the outbreak as an "avoidable disaster" and called for accountability from the previous interim government led by Muhammad Yunus, who dismantled a functional vaccine procurement system without the capacity to rebuild it.
“The country’s measles vaccination coverage rose steadily for two decades, becoming an international model for low-income countries. That record has now been squandered with shocking negligence by the past interim government,” an editorial report in The Daily Star stated.
According to the report, Bangladesh's Health, Population and Nutrition Sector Programme—which had been in place since 1998—was scrapped in March 2025 without an adequate exit strategy.
It stated that the stalled vaccine procurement, dwindling medicine supplies to more than 14,000 community clinics and exhausted buffer stocks during the tenure of the interim government had worsened the situation.
Slamming the interim government’s actions, the report said, “The lack of accountability warrants a probe committee—one with the authority to establish individual responsibility." The deaths of children are tragic. Those who dismantled this programme must answer for each of these deaths.”
--IANS
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