Measles cases in Mongolia have surged to nearly 4,000, prompting queues of people seeking emergency treatment at the country's National Center for Communicable Diseases (NCCD), the latter’s press service reports.

The measles outbreak in Mongolia has reached such a level that the NCCD is unable to cope with the influx of people with children queuing for emergency treatment. While there were 3,356 laboratory-confirmed cases of the disease on Monday, this number has risen sharply to 3,939 as of Thursday.

Also, 44,774 people who have come into contact with the infected are under medical supervision.

The infection is mainly transmitted in schools, where there are sometimes two measles cases in one class.

About 40 percent of the infected are children aged 10-14. Children under the age of 4 account for 22 percent of those infected.

The first five cases of measles were reported in Mongolia in late February, and the first death was reported on May 13.

The country last reported an outbreak of the disease among children in March 2019—although the World Health Organization had called Mongolia a measles-free country in 2016.