Seven suspected measles deaths, 164 cases reported in Mumbai since September: BMC

Mumbai: Seven suspected measles deaths and 164 cases of the viral infection have been reported in Mumbai since its outbreak in September, the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) said on Wednesday.

With 184 new cases having fever and rash on the body, the number of suspected measles cases in the city rose to 1,263, and 647 of these cases include children in the age group of 1 to 4 years, it said in a release.

The number of patients admitted in hospitals due to measles infection rose to 80 with 12 new patients admitted on Wednesday, it said.

On Monday, a one-year-old boy died of measles. The toddler from the Null Bazar area was undergoing treatment at the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation-run Kasturba Hospital in Chinchpokli since last week, a civic official said on Tuesday.

The civic body said in its bulletin that though the city witnessed seven suspected deaths due to measles infection, the exact reason behind their death will be confirmed only after the death review committee gives its report.

The latest outbreak of measles is spread across eight civic wards in the city and the highest number of cases are from the M-East ward, which includes Govandi and surrounding areas, it said.

As per the release, the civic body has set up isolation wards for patients with mild and severe symptoms of measles in various hospitals. The highest number of 83 beds are made available in Kasturba hospital at Chinchpokli in central Mumbai, apart from five ventilators.

The Union Health Ministry had last week said it has deputed a high-level multi-disciplinary team to Mumbai to take stock of the upsurge of measles cases in the city. The team will assist the state health authorities in instituting public health measures and facilitate operationalisation of requisite control and containment measures, it had said.