news desk Lord, save her
South Africa’s National Institute of Communicable Diseases (NICD) reports that since the first week in October 2022, 727 confirmed measles cases have been detected, including 721 in eight provinces affected by the outbreak – Limpopo (255 cases), Mpumalanga (102 cases), North West (196 cases), Gauteng (107 cases), Free State (27 cases), Western Cape (10), KwaZulu-Natal (17) and Northern Cape (7).
Measles outbreaks have now been declared in all provinces in South Africa except for the Eastern Cape Province.
The measles strain detected in Limpopo Province and North West Province is genotype D8, similar to the strain in Zimbabwe in the 2022 outbreak.
In counties where an outbreak has been declared, the most affected age groups continue to be 5-9 years (42%) with a significant proportion of reported cases between 1-4 (25%) and 10-14. groups (19%).
Members of the public are urged to ensure that their children are vaccinated against measles.
