In a follow-up on the measles outbreak in the Philippines, health officials report that the outbreak tally through Apr. 13 is now 31,056.
This is five times more than the figures in 2018 when 6,641 cases were reported at this time.
In addition, the measles death toll this year dwarfs 2018. To date, more than 400 measles related deaths have been reported, compared to 59 in 2018.
The good news is health officials are saying the outbreak is coming to a close. Health Secretary Francisco Duque III said during the celebration of World Immunization Week in Manila, “It is probably safer to assume that the number of cases is going down and in many areas but we need to validate our figures, many localities have zero new cases”.
Health officials ramped up immunizations across the country vaccinating some 3.8 million of six to 59 months old children against measles since February.
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