At least 15 children in Samoa are understood to have died from measles, or its complications, as the epidemic takes hold in Samoa.
A live coldchain vaccine delivery of MMR in Samoa. Photo: RNZ Pacific / Jenny Meyer
The figures were confirmed to RNZ Pacific on Tuesday by a New Zealand nurse and a source with direct knowledge of the matter.
A general manager at Counties Manukau Health in New Zealand, Elizabeth Powell, said another three measles-related deaths were yet to be confirmed.
Samoa's National Emergency Coordination Centre, which is managing the epidemic, is understood to be preparing a statement.
The Samoa Observer newspaper reports two of the latest deaths were prematurely born babies, one to a mother who had the clinical symptoms of measles.
The paper says the five-year-old twin children of the only adult to have died from measles so far had also died. The second child died last Saturday.
Director General of the Ministry of Health Leausa Take Naseri said a pregnant woman lost her unborn child, but denied that the mother was a confirmed case of measles, only suspected.
Samoa declared a state of emergency on Friday, making measles vaccinations mandatory and banning public gatherings involving children.
New Zealand is sending medical staff, vaccines and supplies to Samoa.
Surgical face masks are now becoming a common sight in the shops and streets of Apia as the community responds to the measles epidemic. Photo: RNZ Pacific / Jenny Meyer