Health
FIJI Island has recorded 23 confirmed cases of measles, according to the update from the Ministry of Health, released on Wednesday.
The latest cases are a 13-month-old toddler and a 20-year-old from Saumakia Village in Naitasiri, one of Fiji’s 14 provinces on Viti Levu main island.
Health officials said the Naitasiri outbreak response team has carried out the necessary interventions, including isolation of cases, quarantine and vaccination of contacts as well as at-risk communities as appropriate and follow-up of cases and contacts.
Since the outbreak was declared five weeks ago, about 235,000 people in Fiji have been immunised against measles.
Fijian health officials urged parents of children aged six months to five years to get their children immunised, as children under the age of five are most at risk.
The health ministry said measles was a highly contagious disease and, therefore, non-essential travel to affected areas is discouraged.
Meanwhile, there are now 76 measles-related deaths since Samoa’s outbreak began reports the Samoan government.
There are 126 people with measles in the hospital, including 17 children in intensive care.
Forty new measles cases have been reported in the past 24 hours, taking the total number of confirmed cases to 5,371.
To date, 94 per cent of the population has been vaccinated.
The state of emergency in Samoa is extended to Dec. 29, in order to administer vaccinations to the remaining population yet to be immunised, according to Prime Minister Tuilaepa Malielegaoi. (Xinhua/NAN)
– Dec. 18, 2019 @ 12:55 GMT
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