Cook Islands warns of measles risk from New Zealand

People in the Cook Islands are being urged to keep children isolated from anyone who could be carrying measles.

The country's Secretary of Health Dr Josephine Aumea Herman told Cook Islands News non-urgent travel to New Zealand should be avoided, and parents need to take particular care of babies under 12 months, who are not yet immunised.

A Pacific health expert at south Auckland's Middlemore Hospital, Dr Teuila Percival, said people worst affected by the city's measles outbreak were young Pasifika adults with half the confirmed cases Samoans, Tongans and Cook Islanders.

The number of people infected in the city has jumped to more than 800, with the national figure now above 960 confirmed cases.

Cook Islands parents are being warned to avoid letting their babies come into contact with anyone who has been exposed to measles or travelled from New Zealand.