Measles Outbreak

Fiji postpones all sporting competition following measles outbreak

Fiji has a much higher vaccination rate than Samoa, with only 15 confirmed cases in the country as of Tuesday, but health officials have warned people to avoid affected areas and cancel events likely to draw crowds.

"The gathering of youth and people for sporting events is not right and we should discourage it," said Peter Mazey, the chairman of the Fiji National Sports Commission.

"Working with the health ministry, we are going to try to stop it, now that we have 15 cases in the country."

DR Congo measles: Nearly 5,000 dead in major outbreak

Close to a quarter of a million people have been infected this year alone.

The World Health Organization (WHO) says this is the world's largest and fastest-moving epidemic.

Measles in DR Congo has now killed more than twice the number who have died of Ebola there in the last 15 months.

The Congolese government and the WHO launched an emergency vaccination programme in September that aimed to inoculate more than 800,000 children.

American Samoa declares health emergency over measles

Governor Lolo Matalasi Moliga said the declaration covered the entire territory.

Lolo said effective immediately, all visitors entering American Samoa through Samoa or Tonga must provide proof of MMR immunisation, as a condition of entry.

All American Samoan residents travelling to affected countries would also be subject to Health Department screening.

The emergency declaration is valid for 30 days with the possibility of extension.

There are currently two suspected cases of measles in the territory.

Measles outbreak: 6 quarantined in Fiji

The families in the Serua/Namosi subdivision, near Suva, have been isolated since the outbreak was confirmed four days ago, the Fiji Times reports.

One of them, Nancy Patricia, told the newspaper that she had been placed on medication and told not to leave her house since she was discharged from hospital.

Authorities are conducting a vaccination drive in the surrounding area, and are urging any travellers to get immunised before they leave the country.

The government said there had been no new cases since three instances of measles were confirmed last week.

Fiji declares measles outbreak

In a statement released today, the Ministry of Health and Medical Services  declared an outbreak of measles for the Serua/Namosi Subdivision.

There have been two confirmed cases and two suspected cases reported from Wailali Settlement in Wainadoi about 25km out of Suva.

Three of the cases have recovered or are recovering at home, and one is currently admitted in hospital.

Fiji’s Health Ministry stops National FUTSAL team from returning home

The Fiji side which was taking part in the Oceania Championships in New Caledonia was informed that there are fears the players and officials may have come into contact with people who may be infected with measles.

The team has been told that it may take two weeks for the side to get full clearance to jet back.

Ministry of Health is concerned that the team may have come into contact with Tongan players as the side was not vaccinated prior to departure.

We are trying to get more details from the Health Ministry on the matter.

Viral measles outbreak in Auckland has Pacific nations on alert

From 1 January 2019 to 9 September 2019 there have been 1131 confirmed cases of measles notified across New Zealand - 944 of these confirmed cases are in the Auckland region.

Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern said the New Zealand government is continuing to give very strong advice to everyone to get immunised.

759 measles cases now confirmed in Auckland

Auckland is at the centre of the outbreak with hundreds more cases than the rest of the country combined

The Auckland Regional Public Health Service said the number was 143 higher than this time last week.

It was warning Auckland schools to take serious precautions if they were participating in the many sports tournaments due to start around the country next week.

Anyone with symptoms of measles, including a cough or runny nose, should not be included in teams, it said.

Pacific travellers encouraged to get measles vaccination

New Zealand's Director of Public Health said a lot of people have close ties with the Pacific region and with school holidays approaching, many plan to travel.

Caroline McElnay said the Ministry is seeing a substantial number of measles cases in Auckland and wants to limit the outbreak.

Indonesian teams scramble to attend Papua measles outbreak

In the past few months, around sixty children have died from the disease in the remote district where malnutrition cases are also soaring.

Since reports of the extent of outbreak filtered out of Papua earlier this month, Indonesia's government has moved quickly to attend to the situation, but is copping criticism for neglecting the health of Papuans over many years.

Papua's police commander, Boy Rafli Amar last week said the number affected by malnutrition had surpassed 10,000, which was exacerbating the measles problem.