Epidemic and Disease Alerts in the Pacific as of 03 December 2019.
Measles Update:
Samoa: Update as of 03 December 2019
The death toll from Samoa's measles epidemic has risen to 60 since it began in October. Samoa is racing to immunize its entire population and on Thursday and Friday most government offices and public services will shut down to assist the effort. (Government of Samoa)
Hawaii: 55 Hawaii nurses and 10 doctors have been deployed to Samoa along with a support staff to deliver much-needed immunizations and health care. The team took 50,000 doses of the vaccine to Samoa. The purpose of the trip is to vaccinate tens of thousands of people against the virus in a span of just 48 hours. It’s a multi-million-dollar effort paid for entirely by donations. So far this year, there have been four reported cases of travel-related measles in Hawaii (Hawaii NewsNow)
New Zealand: 2125 confirmed cases as of 03 December 2019, of which 80% are in Auckland.
ENDS.