STAFF CORRESPONDENT

The World Health Organization has assessed the national risk of the ongoing measles outbreak as high, citing continued transmission, a large pool of susceptible children, immunity gaps, and suspected measles-related deaths.

Continued spread of the disease is likely unless urgent measures are taken to strengthen surveillance, rapidly detect and respond to cases, and close immunity gaps through an integrated vaccination campaign, WHO said in a report on Thursday.

“Despite Bangladesh’s progress towards measles elimination, the current outbreak highlights the vulnerability of the population and underscores the fragility of immunisation gains,” it said.

The UN body issued several recommendations, including maintaining at least 95 percent coverage of target children with both doses of the measles vaccine across all municipalities and strengthening integrated epidemiological surveillance to bring the situation under control.

The observations came as the country continued to see a rise in measles cases and deaths, with hospitals overwhelmed by patients.

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