Samoa measles

It says the death toll since the outbreak began in October is 81 with the two most recent deaths officially reported on Christmas and Boxing Day.

There have been a total of 5,634 measles cases reported so far, with 22 in the past day.

However the number of people with measles being admitted to hospital in Samoa is falling with just 46 in-patients, including 9 children in intensive care.

As of Christmas Day, about 95 percent of all eligible people in Samoa have been vaccinated against measles.

The Whangārei nurse offered her services at the local hospital but said the local and Red Cross medical personnel ensured the best care possible on the island where 80 people have died from the disease.

As of yesterday, there were 5600 confirmed cases since an outbreak began in September.

Maddren, a clinical nurse specialist at the Whangārei Hospital, returned from Samoa two weeks ago after visiting her sick brother and said the island has learnt a "hard lesson".

The Ministry said the death of a child under five years old recorded in the last 24 hours takes the death toll to 81.

It said there are currently 43 measles cases in hospitals, 10 are of them are critical; seven are children.

There were nine measles cases recorded in the last 24 hours for Upolu.

There were no new cases for Savai'i.

As of Christmas Day, about 95 percent of all eligible people in Samoa have been vaccinated against measles.

Samoa's Ministry of Health said a child under the age of five had died in the past day.

There have been another 39 new confirmed cases in the past 24 hours, taking the total number of those infected to 5,463.

There are currently 114 measles cases in hospital with 15 children in intensive care according to the ministry.

As of 19 December, 94 percent of the population had been vaccinated.

Parliament passed a bill on Wednesday making measles vaccinations mandatory from next year.

The warnings undermine the government's argument it could not have prepared for the disease's arrival beyond its response, which included a mass vaccination campaign launched in November.

As early as March, the World Health Organisation and the UN children's agency UNICEF identified low vaccination rates - just 28 percent of Samoa's population had both doses of the measles vaccine last year - as a key risk amid a global resurgence of measles.

There have been nearly 4700 cases of measles diagnosed since October.

The UK government said in a statement 14 medics will arrive on Sunday, to relieve a team that arrived two weeks ago.

"The medical system here is under the most enormous amount of strain, with the hospital operating far, far beyond its usual capacity," said Becky Platt, a paediatric nurse with the UK Emergency Medical Team.

"The local staff have been working around the clock for weeks and weeks on end, many of them without proper breaks or any days off. Some of them are absolutely on their knees."

The latest fatalities are aged between 6 months and 4 years old.

The death toll is now 62.

There are currently 19 critically ill children in ICU/HDU and 3 pregnant women and 1 postnatal at the Tupua Tamasese Meaole National Hospital.

The Ministry of Health confirms a total of 4,217 measles cases have been reported to the Disease Surveillance Team, since the outbreak started.  There were 165 recorded in the last 24 hours.

There are now 60 measles-related deaths, with children making up most of the fatalities.

There are also 174 people still in hospital including 18 critically-ill children.

UNICEF's representative for the Pacific, Sheldon Yett, said Samoa was a small country and with its limited resources, the measles outbreak was proving overwhelming.

The authorities want to make it easier for teams carrying out a door to door mass vaccination campaign on Thursday and Friday to identify households who need vaccinated.

 The country's expected to shut down for those two days while the campaign is carried out.

 The latest measures come as the number of measles-related deaths continue to rise.

 Yesterday the Samoan government said 55 people had died from measles, by far the majority of them children under four.

 Another update is expected from them early this afternoon.

According to the Ministry of Health, there were 153 new cases recorded over the same period.

A total of 3,881 measles cases have been reported to the Disease Surveillance Team, since the outbreak started.

There are currently 174 measles cases who are in-patients at all health facilities.

Eighteen children remain critically ill in ICU/HDU.

There are two pregnant women and 2 postnatal admitted in hospital.

The ministry said there is a 2% increase in recovery rate over a 24-hour period.