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of which 743, or around 31 percent, tested positive so far, said Halimur Rashid, director (disease control) of the Directorate General of Health Services (DGHS).

However, a DGHS report said a total of 3,709 suspected measles cases were recorded from March 15 until 8:00am yesterday, including 685 reported in the last 24 hours. Of them, 585 cases were confirmed as measles patients.

A total of 27 suspected measles deaths were recorded, including four in the last 24 hours until 8:00am yesterday, and of them, 13 are confirmed measles deaths, the report said.

But this newspaper got reports of 50 deaths in suspected measles cases and related complications until yesterday, including four suspected deaths in the last 24 hours.

Against this backdrop, the government on Wednesday announced plans to launch an emergency vaccination drive in high-burden areas from Sunday.

Officials of the health ministry, the DGHS, Expanded Programme on Immunisation (EPI) and civil surgeons held a series of meetings in the last two day.

As per the initial decision, the emergency derive will be carried out at heavy burden areas for two weeks, said Shahriar Sajjad, deputy director of the EPI.

The tenure can be extended, if necessary, he said, adding that 20 to 21 upazilas with a heavy burden of patients have been identified so far.

However, the target groups for the campaign have not been finalised yet, as differences have emerged between recommendations put forward by the National Immunisation Technical Advisory Group and decisions from the health ministry, sources said.

Measles has spread suddenly and there had been little preparation initially, said Health Minister Sardar Md Sakhawat Husain yesterday.

“However, within a short time, we are now fully prepared to prevent measles,” he said at the inauguration of the training programme on the use of bubble CPAP in the treatment of respiratory distress due to measles-induced pneumonia at Bangladesh Shishu Hospital and Institute in the capital.

This training is aimed at scaling up the use of bubble CPAP, a low-cost and effective bubble CPAP oxygen delivery system developed by icddr,b, across the country.

Meanwhile, another suspected measles patient has died at the Infectious Diseases Hospital in Mohakhali in the last 24 hours, raising measles-related deaths at the facility to 27, said superintendent Tanzina Jahan.

The hospital was treating 81 suspected patients yesterday, she added.

Another suspected measles patient has died at Rajshahi Medical College Hospital in the past 24 hours, taking the total suspected measles deaths at the facility to five, said the hospital’s spokesperson Shankar K Biswas.

The six-month-old deceased, Abdur Rahman, of Chapainawabganj’s Gomastapur upazila, died around 6:00am yesterday.

Seven-month-old Rahima Akter from Kawdia village in Madaripur Sadar upazila died with symptoms of measles at Faridpur Medical College Hospital, marking the first such death reported in the district, said Faridpur’s Civil Surgeon Mahmudul Hasan.

In Tangail, eight-month-old Saifal of Hatila village in Tangail Sadar upazila died on Thursday while undergoing treatment for measles at the 250-bed Tangail General Hospital, said the hospital’s Deputy Director Khandaker Sadiqur Rahman.

Six suspected measles patients died at Bangladesh Shishu Hospital and Institute, while five died at Mymensingh Medical College Hospital. Four victims were from Chapainawabganj and one from Cox’s Bazar, according to previous reports of the newspaper.

[Our correspondents from Rajshahi, Tangail and Faridpur contributed to this report]