According to the ministry, 59 cities and provinces recorded cases of measles amongst children below 10; worse, adults can also get the disease.

Noticeably, up to 98.7 percent of patients have not been vaccinated or parents did not remember immunization schedule for their children. Most of infection cases live in disadvantaged districts with low rate of vaccination and in densely populated districts where more immigrants live.

Hanoi has 1,200 cases of measles.

The World Health Organization said that presently, 170 nations and territories worldwide have reported measles outbreaks infecting at least 112,163 people.

Infection cases increased over 300 percent globally, especially in Africa with 700 percent compared to the same period last year. WHO pointed out the culprit of increase in measles cases are fear of vaccination.

WHO warned that measles elimination is greatly under threat, and the disease has resurged in a number of countries such as Congo, Madagascar, Sudan, Ethiopia, Yemen, Ukraine, Georgia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Myanmar, Philippines and even in countries that had achieved, or were close to achieving, elimination.

For instance, the US has achieved elimination of the disease 20 years ago but in 2019, outbreaks have been reported in 22 states, infecting 695 people, highest number of infected patients within 25 years in the US. The outbreaks are blamed on low vaccination rates.

Accordingly, to actively prevent the disease, Vietnamese Health Ministry warned parents to take their children to nearby medical centers for vaccination. Adults were encouraged to have vaccine against measles to avoid being infected.

People ought to take their children to infirmaries soon when kids experience fever, cough and running nose. SGGP

Uyen Phuong