Johannesburg - The Gauteng Department of Health (GDoH) confirmed on Thursday that the province has, to date, reported a total of 74 confirmed measles cases.
GDoH's head of communication, Motalatale Modiba, said that there are 52 cases from the Ekurhuleni district, seven from the Johannesburg district, 11 from the Tshwane district, four from the West Rand district, and none from Sedibeng.
"To date, we have been able to immunise over 1 136 866 children across the province. We continue to urge parents and caregivers to continue cooperating with the campaign in terms of giving consent for their children to be immunised at schools," Modiba said.
"Parents with little ones who are not yet at early childhood development centres or schools can take them to their local clinics for immunisation."
Meanwhile, the National Institute for Communicable Diseases (NICD) said on Thursday that in measles outbreak-affected provinces, 586 cases had been reported.
The institute said that in the past week, there had been 77 laboratory-confirmed measles cases detected across the country, of which 72 are from outbreak-affected provinces.
"The majority of cases (72%) were reported from primary healthcare facilities, and the highest proportion of cases reported from hospitals (50%) was reported in children under the age of one," the NICD said.
"Members of the public are urged to ensure their children are vaccinated against measles."
The Star