Barbadians have been urged not to panic over the rapid spread of measles across the US, one of the island’s leading tourism source markets — even amid concerns about “complacency” leading to a lower uptake of the measles vaccine here.Health officials in the United States have raised alarms about a sharp rise in cases of measles, a highly infectious viral illness that spreads through the air and can cause serious complications or even death. During the first quarter of this year alone, there have already been approximately 30 per cent of the total measles cases reported since 2020. Medical experts view this sudden surge as a significant setback to efforts aimed at eliminating measles from the US.But in a bid to console residents here, Deputy Chief Medical Officer Dr Arthur Phillips said on Thursday that Barbados has maintained its measles elimination status up to 2023.