Gauteng register a decline in number of confirmed measles
There has been a slight decrease in the number of cases reported in the province.
Tshwane metro has 22 confirmed cases of measles this month.
This was confirmed by the provincial health spokesperson Motalatale Modiba.
Modiba said the province has recorded a total of 153 confirmed measles cases as of May 3.
He further said that there was only one confirmed case of measles in the province this week.
“There are 107 cases from Ekurhuleni district, 17 from Johannesburg district, 22 from Tshwane, seven from West Rand District and none from Sedibeng,” Modiba added.
The tally doubled from 11 cases confirmed in March year.
However, there has been a slight decrease in the number of cases reported in the province.
The National Institute for Communicable Diseases (NICD) last week revealed that the number of cases reported in the province for April stood at 165 compared to this month’s 153 cases.
The department attributes the decline to the ongoing immunisation campaign that was currently taking place.
“To date, over 1 774 590 children have been immunised across the province. In Tshwane, the target population is 933 690 children aged between 6 months and 16 years, and over 430 891 have been vaccinated,” the department added.
Modiba continued to say that various teams of health workers were working across the province to emphasise the importance of ensuring that the infants are immunised as per their Road to Health card.
The NICD announced that from October 8, 2022, to April 22, 2023, it had tested 5 798 samples for measles, and confirmed 17%.
The institute said the majority of cases were reported by primary health facilities, and mainly (59%) children under the age of one.
“The department’s plan at the moment is to vaccinate over four million children to curb the spread of the disease.”
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