, Oct. 8 -- Four children died with measles-like symptoms in the 24 hours until 8:00am on Thursday, bringing the country's combined tally of confirmed and suspected measles-related deaths to 1,144 this year.

The Directorate General of Health Services (DGHS) has classified all four latest fatalities as suspected measles deaths, saying no confirmed deaths from the highly contagious airborne disease were reported during the period.

With this, the total number of suspected measles deaths has reached 1,040, while confirmed deaths from measles have remained the same at 104.

A total of 1,332 new suspected measles cases were reported during the 24-hour period, taking the cumulative number of suspected cases nationwide to 201,625

Meanwhile, 96...