A conference will be held on April 22 for 33 northern and northern central provinces being hit by measles to publicise the ministry’s updated guidelines on measles treatment issued on April 18.

Over the last two days, the number of new measles cases hospitalised in the National Hospital of Pediatrics in Hanoi reduced sharply, the Preventive Medicine Department under the Ministry of Health has reported.

Only 2-3 new cases were admitted while the previous figure was 10, the department said.

On April 21, 51 new measles cases were recorded nationwide. Three children, who are under nine months old and unvaccinated against the contagious disease, were taken home due to their fatal conditions, it reported.

To date, the number of measles cases across the country has risen to 3,481. The disease has spread to 61 out of 63 cities and provinces. Of the 119 deaths caused by measles complications, 25 were directly killed by the disease.

The national vaccination campaign against measles has been responded remarkably, seeing a rise of 4 percent to 63.05 percent by April 21, said the department.

On April 21, Health Minister Nguyen Thi Kim Tien inspected the disease prevention and treatment in Bach Mai hospital, the Central Tropical Hospital and Dong Da hospital in Hanoi. She also worked with the city’s authorities on how to bring the disease to an end.

Hanoi has recorded 1,253 measles cases with 14 deaths.

The city provided an additional 75 billion VND for buying equipment and medicine in service of the fight against the disease, said Nguyen Thi Bich Ngoc, Vice Chairwoman of the municipal People’s Committee.-VNA