Map reveals deadly measles hotspots as cases exceed 2025 total amid three deaths

ENGLAND was today rocked by fresh measles fears after cases surpassed the total for 2025. Three people have already died this year amid a surge in infections. Figures published by the UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) today showed there have been 970 laboratory confirmed measles cases in England this year. By comparison, there were a total of 960 lab-confirmed cases of the highly contagious virus in 2025. Sign up for the Health newsletter Thank you! Health officials have previously blamed low uptake of the measles, mumps and rubella (MMR) vaccine for a series of outbreaks in the UK this year. They urged parents to check their kids have had both doses of the jab, or risk them becoming seriously ill and fuelling prolonged outbreaks. Measles, which mostly produces flu-like symptoms and a rash, can cause very serious and even fatal health complications if it spreads to the lungs or the brain. One in five children who get infected will be hospitalised, according to estimates, with one in 15 developing serious complications like meningitis or sepsis. In very rare cases, one in every 25,000 unvaccinated children who catch measles will develop subacute SSPE, a progressive neurological complication of the virus. According to the latest UKHSA figures, 96 of the 153 local authorities in England have reported at least one case since January. Most read in Health More than half of all cases were in London, with Enfield logging the highest number at 111 – accounting for 11 per cent. Birmingham and Hertfordshire followed with 81 and 63, respectively. Measles mostly produces flu-like symptoms and a rash Credit: Alamy North London boroughs Haringey and Islington, meanwhile, reported 55 and 53 cases each. The majority (61 per cent) of the 970 cases were in children aged 10 and under. More than a quarter of all cases (263) were in those aged one to four, with 213 cases reported among children aged five to ten. Just under 10 per cent of cases (92) were recorded in adults aged 35 and over. Of the three deaths recorded this year, two were among children while the third was an adult with “an underlying immunological problem”, UKHSA said. The UK was stripped of its ‘measles-free’ status earlier this year by the World Health Organization, after recording 2,911 lab confirmed cases of the infection in 2024 – the worst outbreak Britain has seen in decades. Countries are only labelled “measles-free” by global health officials if cases are rare, imported from abroad and quickly brought under control, a threshold the UK no longer meets. Two doses of the measles, mumps and rubella (MMR) vaccine offers up to 99 per cent protection against the illnesses, which can lead to hearing loss and problems during pregnancy. What parents should know about the MMRV jab The MMRV vaccine is offered to all young children in the UK. It protects against measles, mumps, rubella and chickenpox. Now, one dose is given to children at 12 months, and another at 18 months. Older children born on or after 1 January 2020 are also offered one or two doses of the vaccine. The MMR vaccine (previously offered) is recommended for anyone born on or before 31 December 2019 who missed having this vaccine when they were younger. Since the introduction of the measles vaccine in 1968, 20 million measles cases and 4,500 deaths have been prevented in the UK, according to the UK Health and Security Agency. Measles usually starts with cold-like symptoms, followed by a rash a few days later. Children should stay off nursery or school for at least four days from when the rash first appears. People usually feel better within seven to 10 days, but complications make the virus deadly on rare occassions. For more information on vaccination, visit https://www.nhs.uk/vaccinations/mmrv-vaccine/ Without it, just one measles infection can spread the virus to 9 out of 10 unvaccinated people nearby. At least 95 per cent of the population needs to be vaccinated to prevent outbreaks, under public health guidance. Yet, as few as just over half of children have had both MMR jabs in parts of London. Worries about low uptake in the capital saw Enfield council send letters to parents at the beginning of the year warning that unvaccinated children may be excluded from school for three weeks in the event of an outbreak in their classroom. This advice was first issued by UKHSA chiefs in 2019 but councils have previously flagged it to parents amid spikes in measles cases. Measles can infect nine in ten unjabbed children in a classroom if just one classmate is infectious. Uptake of the MMR jab collapsed in the late 90s and early 2000s in the wake of a 1998 study by the now discredited medic Andrew Wakefield which falsely linked the jabs to autism. MMR uptake in England was about 91 per cent prior to Wakefield’s study being published but plummeted to 80 per cent in the aftermath. Comment now