Vaccinating children who missed their measles shots during the COVID-19 pandemic is critical, a senior World Health Organisation official said on Tuesday, as outbreaks of the infectious disease increase worldwide.
More than 50 countries have experienced "large and disruptive" measles outbreaks in the last year, twice as many as in 2022, said Kate O'Brien, WHO director of immunisation, at a virtual press conference.
Measles is a very contagious viral illness that causes flu-like symptoms and a rash. It can be fatal but is preventable with two doses of vaccine.
COVID-19 massively disrupted routine vaccination efforts worldwide, and around 60 million children missed their doses over that period, O'Brien said.
She said catch-up efforts were "really critical".
"It's now a race between whether the catch-up activities can happen quickly enough or whether the outbreaks will continue to scale," she said.
On Monday, the United States Centers for Disease Control and Prevention also urged people to get vaccinated against measles amid rising cases globally.
Israeli forces raided Jenin in the occupied West Bank on Tuesday in an operation that the Palestinian health ministry said killed seven Palestinians, including a doctor, and left nine others wounded.
Recovery teams refloated the huge cargo vessel in the Port of Baltimore two months after the boat crashed into the Francis Scott Key bridge and caused the span to collapse.
An infected blood scandal in Britain was no accident but the fault of doctors and a succession of governments that led to 3,000 deaths and thousands more contracting hepatitis or HIV, a public inquiry has found.
Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi, seen as a potential successor to Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, was killed in a helicopter crash in mountainous terrain near the Azerbaijan border, officials and state media said on Monday.
The International Criminal Court prosecutor's office said on Monday it had requested arrest warrants for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, his defence chief and three Hamas leaders for alleged war crimes.