Four people have died of measles since an outbreak earlier this year, Deputy Health Minister Molefi Sefularo said in Pretoria on Friday.

"Three of the deaths were laboratory confirmed," he said.

A 56-year-old woman died of measles in Mpumalanga. The other three deaths were of very young children ? a four-year-old, two-year-old and a seven-month-old.

Sefularo said 940 cases were confirmed on 13 October and 91 percent of them were in Gauteng.

"Significantly, smaller number of confirmed cases occur in other provinces."

Sefularo said the number of confirmed cases was higher when compared to last year. In 2008 there were 39 cases compared to the current 940.