More than 500 children with confirmed or suspected measles infections have reportedly died in Bangladesh since March, as the country battles a rapidly spreading outbreak that has largely overwhelmed local hospitals while exposing gaps in the nation's vaccination coverage, the BBC reports.

According to the Bangladeshi health ministry, suspected cases of measles have now crossed the 60,000 mark in just over two months. The final number remains uncertain, however, as many laboratory test results are still pending. As a result, health authorities have launched a nationwide emergency vaccination drive. At the same time Eid leave has been cancelled for doctors and nurses involved in treating infected patients.

The outbreak has placed severe pressure on hospitals, particularly in more urban centres, where families are travelling in search of treatment following difficulties in local health facilities where the sheer numbers mean the system is struggling to cope. Aid agencies and health experts say many hospitals have become overcrowded, with insufficient isolation measures for any infected children.

Measles is a highly contagious viral disease spread through coughing and sneezing and poses the greatest risk to unvaccinated children under the age of five. Health workers in Bangladesh say the current outbreak has been intensified by gaps in routine immunisation cycles that emerged during the Covid-19 pandemic and has yet to be fully reimplemented.

UNICEF officials told BBC that several factors have combined to contribute to the rapid spread of infections, including densely populated urban areas such as the capital Dhaka and Cox’s Bazar, as well as population movements during holidays and clusters of under-vaccinated children identified since 2023.

The agency also raised concerns over delays in the procurement of vaccines following political changes in Bangladesh. After former Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina left office in August 2024 amid mass protests, an interim administration revised the existing vaccine purchasing procedures, which UNICEF said ultimately slowed procurement timelines and increased the risk of supply shortages.

Former officials of the interim government have rejected these claims though and insisted that coordination with UNICEF continued throughout the period.

Public health experts also pointed to weakened grassroots vaccination campaigns after the pandemic. Previously, health workers often visited households directly to encourage immunisation, but those outreach efforts declined during Covid restrictions.

In the meantime, Bangladesh’s Health Minister Sardar Sakhawat Hossain has said that authorities expect infection rates to begin easing as immunity develops among recently vaccinated children. However, health experts remain concerned that increased travel during the ongoing Eid holidays could accelerate transmission further as tens of millions move between cities and more rural areas.