A health official has warned that the “worst case scenario” could be another meningitis B super-spreader event, but said it was unlikely.
Dr Anjan Ghosh, Kent County Council's public health director, said it is most likely that it will be contained in Kent with a few additional cases outside of the county, “which can be easily contained”.
He added: “The worst case scenario is that there's another type of event like what happened in Kent so some sort of super spreader event or something more and therefore you have a bigger, much bigger cluster like you had in Kent happening elsewhere. That's very unlikely to happen.”
It comes as health chiefs warn that cases may continue to rise despite suggesting the “peak” of the outbreak has passed.
Officials said there could be “sporadic household cases outside of Kent” as the impact of secondary cases affecting people who were not infected at the nightclub, but caught the illness from someone who was there, become clear.
The number of cases of meningitis linked to the outbreak in Kent has risen to 29, up from 27 on Thursday.
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Key Points
- Another super-spreader event is 'worst case scenario'
- 'Peak' of outbreak has passed, officials suggest
- Family of girl, 18, who died after meningitis outbreak call for mass jab rollout
- Experts considering expanding menB vaccine eligibility
- Cases rise to 29
False claims stating the UK may need to go into lockdown circulate social media
05:00 , Harriette BoucherFalse claims that Keir Starmer said the UK may need to go into lockdown if meningitis cases escalate have spread widely across social media.
Posts shared hundreds of times claim the prime minister said: “The UK may need to go into lockdown as early as May if meningitis cases continue to escalate”.
Some posts also include an additional fake quote from the Starmer, in which he said: “I will do whatever it takes to keep the country safe over the election period, even if that means you can’t go outside”.
Number 10 confirmed to Full Fact that Starmer has not made these comments, with the claims appearing to have started from a satirical Facebook page.
Recap: Scientists say meningitis strain is not new variant
04:01 , Harriette BoucherThe Independent’s health reporter Rebecca Whittaker reports:
Scientists say the meningitis strain is not a new variant and may not have mutated into an “invasive strain”.
Professor Brendan Wren, Professor of Microbial Pathogenesis, London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine said: “The initial sequence data confirms that it is a single menB strain causing the current cluster of meningitis cases.
“The MenB ST-41/44 clonal complex has been previously identified in the UK and is not a new variant. This suggests that the strain has not mutated into a more invasive strain, but scrutiny of the full genome sequences and further studies will be required to confirm this.
“The current Bexsero MenB vaccine based on the cell surface antigens of MenB strains should provide protection against the MenB ST-41/44 variant.”
Kent chief medical officer insists meningitis vaccine 'highly effective'
03:00 , Harriette BoucherWhy the University of Kent meningitis outbreak was years in the making
02:00 , Harriette BoucherTwo young people are dead and 20 are receiving treatment after a meningitis outbreak at the University of Kent. The students caught up in it belong to a generation that has never been routinely vaccinated against the strain responsible.
That is not because a vaccine doesn’t exist. It does. Bexsero, which protects against meningococcal group B disease (the strain responsible for the Kent outbreak) has been available since 2013. The UK even became the first country in the world to add it to its national immunisation schedule, in September 2015.
But only for babies.
Every student at university today was born before July 2015, meaning every one of them missed the cut-off. The NHS never offered them the jab and no catch-up programme was ever provided. A decade of students has passed through higher education with no routine protection against the most common form of bacterial meningitis.
The decision not to extend the programme beyond infants reflects a genuine tension at the heart of vaccine policy. The government’s advisory body, the joint committee on vaccination and immunisation (JCVI) concluded that the benefit, real as it was, did not clear the economic threshold required to justify the cost.
Experts still trying to establish whether bug has become more transmissible
01:01 , Harriette BoucherHealth chiefs have said experts are still trying to work out if the meningitis bug has become more transmissible in the recent cases.
The chief scientific officer of the UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA), Professor Robin May, told Times Radio the scale of the current outbreak os “very unusual”.
He said typically the UK sees about one case of meningitis a day on average in the UK.
“This is obviously a much bigger number than that and so there’s something unusual about this outbreak,” he continued. “We are focusing our investigations on two possibilities, which both may be true, or neither.
“So one is that there is something about the particular setting that has enabled this bacteria to spread very well in that particular club setting. We don’t know that, there’s no evidence for that at the moment, but that’s one course of investigation.
“The other possibility is that the bacteria itself has changed in a way that makes it more transmissible, perhaps more likely to cause disease. Many of us carry menB as a bacteria without any problems in the back of our throats all the time. So it could be that this is a bacteria that’s just more likely to progress to disease.
“We don’t know that – we’ve been working, as you can imagine, around the clock since the discovery of this outbreak to try and understand more about it, including doing DNA sequencing, genome sequencing for this strain and that is due back very, very soon. That analysis is extremely complex. The genome for this bacteria is about 100 times bigger than Covid so it’s a lot more complicated.
“So it will take us some time to analyse that, but we are very much focusing our attention on whether anything has changed in the bacteria that might make it more likely to spread or cause disease.”
Asked if such an outbreak could happen again, he said: “Well obviously that’s something we’re very conscious of.”
He said “we’ll be mindful both of the possibility of this particular strain, for example, re-emerging in the future, but also general principles that we’ll learn about the bacteria.
“As with all pathogens, there’s always much more we can learn, and by learning more about how they work, we hope to develop better ways to prevent them causing disease in the future.”
Focus of response is on Kent, health chiefs say
00:00 , Harriette BoucherThe chief scientific officer of the UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA), Professor Robin May, told Times Radio the focus was on the immediate response in Kent.
He added: “I would like to just stress, though, that is not a reason for people elsewhere in the country not to continue to be very alert to this.
“This is a very mobile population of students. Really important that if you’re not in the Kent area, but you see signs of this infection, you still seek medical help.
“Essentially, you’re looking for things like a sharp, high fever that comes on rapidly, a red rash that does not fade if you push a glass to it, aversion to bright light, stiff neck.
“And then symptoms that are kind of very flu-like symptoms, often kind of cold feet, clammy feeling, those kind of things.”
He said the “key message” is “don’t delay if you’re showing those kinds of symptoms.”
He added: “Don’t just go to bed and think ‘I’ll wake up tomorrow and see about it’, seek advice first.”
Health chiefs warn deadly meningitis B strain mutation could be fuelling rapid spread
23:30 , Harriette BoucherThe Independent’s Health Reporter Rebecca Whittaker reports:
A deadly meningitis B strain may have “evolved” and caused the illness to spread rapidly, health chiefs have warned.
The number of cases of meningitis linked to the outbreak in Kent has risen from 27 to 29, the UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) said on Thursday. Some 2,360 vaccinations and 9,840 doses of antibiotics have been given to those affected by the outbreak.
But the outbreak in Canterbury is considered to be “very unusual” by scientists, as a meningitis infection is usually an isolated one-off case, with the UK seeing just one case per day on average.
Health officials said samples have been taken from meningitis patients in hospitals to analyse the bacteria in a laboratory. Using genome sequencing, they hope to determine the specific variant of the meningitis B strain.
Professor Robin May, chief scientific officer at the UKHSA, explained it was unusual to see such a large number of cases from one single event.
Health chiefs warn deadly meningitis strain mutation could be fuelling rapid spread
'Too early to say' whether the number of cases have peaked
23:00 , Harriette BoucherThe Kent County Council public health director Dr Anjan Ghosh said it is “too early to say” if the number of cases has peaked.
Dr Ghosh said that the data makes it appear cases are going up exponentially, but “it’s not”.
“Hopefully it's starting to slow down. I think until next week, we won't be able to say for sure, the normal sequelae of an outbreak of this sort is about four weeks,” he added.
“That's the timeframe for it to really slow down. So fully expect, in four weeks' time that it slowed down, but we can't say whether it's peaked yet.
“These are all cases which are relating to that same period of time, it's just that the reporting cycle it takes time for them to be reported, it takes time for the incubation period which is quite wide for people to actually start showing symptoms. It's not like it's spreading and more and more people are getting the infection.
“We are looking into secondary infections to make sure that that is not the case and we haven't yet been able to definitively say that's not the case, but for majority it all relates to that same single point in time.”
Health officials have suggested that the “peak” of the outbreak has passed.
Michael Rosen urges parents to check for these meningitis symptoms as he opens up on son's death
22:30 , Harriette BoucherMeningitis strain at the centre of Kent outbreak explained
22:00 , Harriette BoucherHealth officials have completed an initial genetic analysis of the strain of meningitis at the centre of the deadly outbreak in Kent.
But what is the strain and what does this mean?
Meningitis strain at the centre of Kent outbreak explained
Experts considering expanding menB vaccine eligibility
21:30 , Harriette BoucherExperts are said to be considering expanding the eligibility for the routine meningitis B vaccine following a call for Wes Streeting.
The joint committee on vaccination and immunisation (JCVI) reportedly launched a review following the outbreak in Kent and are thinking about a wider review of eligibility for menB vaccinations, The Guardian reported.
The JCVI has previously said a catch-up campaign for young people who were born before 2015, when the jab was introduced for babies, would not be cost effective.
Watch: Meningitis B expert answers your questions as Kent outbreak leaves two dead
21:00 , Harriette BoucherKent University menB survivor is 'grateful to be alive'
20:30 , Harriette BoucherA Kent University meningitis survivor has said she feels “so grateful to be alive”, but is still dealing with the after-affect of the illness.
After initially thinking she had Covid, Annabelle Mackay started to become “delirious” and sensitive to light.
The 21 year old told the BBC she eventually went to the A&E, where she temporarily lost her sight, and learnt she had meningitis.
She added: “I feel so grateful to be alive and to be here. I'm still dealing with the aftereffects now, but I think I just need to focus on my recovery and getting better and back to myself.”
Ms Mackay believes she contracted meningitis on 5 March at Club Chemistry, or possibly on an earlier evening when she was out at a different venue.
Cross-party support for catch-up MenB programmes for students
20:05 , Harriette BoucherMore MPs have joined calls to consider a wider rollout of the MenB vaccine and introduce catch-up vaccination programmes for students.
In a cross-party letter to Wes Streeting on Thursday, more than 40 MPs called for the government to work with universities to introduce the programmes for students, saying it is a “tragedy that a vaccine exists but is not routinely offered to this group”.
Canterbury MP Rosie Duffield said on Friday that further MPs had also asked to support the letter.
The health secretary was consulting with the Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation on the issue as well, she said.
How long does the MenB vaccine take to work?
19:45 , Harriette BoucherAfter receiving a meningitis B vaccine, there will be some protection after around two weeks.
However, two doses of the vaccine is needed in order to provide full protection.
Bexsero, the vaccine most likely to be used in a targeted programme, covers 80 per cent of all meningitis B strains.
Adam Finn, a professor of paediatrics at the University of Bristol, said the vaccine will be “very useful” in reducing the risk of infection over the coming months and years, but “not a significant help during the coming days as this outbreak is brought under control”.
Family of girl, 18, who died after meningitis outbreak pay tribute to ‘beautifully positive’ daughter
19:19 , Harriette BoucherThe father of an 18-year-old girl who died following a meningitis outbreak in Kent has described his family’s devastation as "immeasurable" as he called for better protection for young people.
Juliette Kenny died on Saturday, March 14, one day after first showing symptoms including vomiting and discolouration in her cheeks, her father Michael Kenny said.
Mr Kenny added his daughter had been "fit, healthy and strong" before her death, having completed her PE A-level practical assessment on Thursday, March 12.
Juliette, described by her father as having a "beautifully positive energy", is one of two students who have died following the meningitis B outbreak in the county.
Mr Kenny said "no family should experience this pain and tragedy" and that "this can be avoided", adding he wanted his daughter’s legacy to be "lasting change".
Family pay tribute to teenager who died after meningitis outbreak
Watch: Meningitis: ‘Sporadic’ household clusters could appear elsewhere in UK
18:45 , Joe MiddletonMother's campaign for menB jab catch-up programme gains momentum
18:35 , Harriette BoucherA mother’s campaign for the government to fund a meningitis B vaccination programme for all 16 to 23 year olds has received renewed momentum following the outbreak in Kent.
The petition, launched in October 2024, was created by Marrissa Mullans, whose son Alfie Jake Mullans was 18 when he died of menB in 2023.
Since Tuesday, the petition has gained around 13,000 signatures, bringing it up to more than 57,000.
In her petition calling for the programme, she wrote: “Meningitis stripped us of a bright future that should have been, ruthlessly snatching Alfie away at the tender age of eighteen.”
I am campaigning in Alfie’s memory so that fewer families have to endure this same pain.
“A MenB vaccine exists, but on the NHS it has only been routinely offered to babies born from September 2015. When the MenB programme was introduced, the Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation (JCVI) recommended routine infant vaccination but did not recommend an adolescent programme, saying it could not support that recommendation because of uncertainty over cost-effectiveness and the risk that it could displace more health benefit elsewhere in the NHS.”
She has also called for the government to run a national awareness campaign for parents and young people to understand that many teenagers and young adults are not protected against menB.
Watch: Michael Rosen urges parents to check for these meningitis symptoms as he opens up on son's death
18:15 , Harriette BoucherRecap: MenB outbreak 'seems to be slowing' says top meningitis expert
17:55 , Harriette BoucherThe Independent’s health editor Rebecca Thomas reports:
In an update on Friday, the UK Health Security Agency has confirmed the strain of meningitis driving the outbreak, Meningitis B, is covered by the current Bexsero vaccine.
It has published details of the variant of MenB that has been identified for scientists and experts to further study.
Speaking to The Independent, Dr Shamez Ladhani, a paediatric infectious diseases specialist at St George’s Hospital, said: “So there are two theories. One is that it could be more transmissible and jump from person to person very quickly, or it could be more severe.”
However, he said the transmissibility will only be known retrospectively, reflecting on the number of cases.
“There was a big exposure event that happened, and a lot of young adults got sick. It seems to be linked very closely to the nightclub. It seems like they all got exposed, very close to each other, which is why you've had so many cases so close to each other, and now cases have slowed down.
He said: “As it stands, at the moment the risk outside those involved in the Kent outbreak is that baseline…It's unprecedented in terms of the numbers that got sick so quickly but apart from that, it is behaving normally. This is what [meningitis] does.”
In relation to the variant, he said: “It is a variant of one of the common strains, [MenB], but that doesn't have any meaning so far; we don't know what that actually means; it could be nothing. Meningococcal is one of the diseases most genetically able to mutate very quickly.
“That's why it moves very quickly. So it actually has an incredible ability to acquire new genes and transfer new genes. So it's constantly changing itself. Luckily its still preventable by the B vaccine.”
In terms of severity, the outbreak was currently behaving “atypically” as would be expected.
He added, “It's a nasty disease, and it's acting like a nasty disease. This is what it does; there's no evidence that it's more aggressive; it's just a horrible disease.”
False claims the UK may need to go into lockdown circulate social media
17:35 , Harriette BoucherFalse claims that Keir Starmer said the UK may need to go into lockdown if meningitis cases escalate have spread widely across social media.
Posts shared hundreds of times claim the prime minister said: “The UK may need to go into lockdown as early as May if meningitis cases continue to escalate”.
Some posts also include an additional fake quote from the Starmer, in which he said: “I will do whatever it takes to keep the country safe over the election period, even if that means you can’t go outside”.
Number 10 confirmed to Full Fact that Starmer has not made these comments, with the claims appearing to have started from a satirical Facebook page.
Meningitis strain at the centre of Kent outbreak explained
17:15 , Harriette BoucherHealth officials have completed an initial genetic analysis of the strain of meningitis at the centre of the deadly outbreak in Kent.
But what is the strain and what does this mean?
Meningitis strain at the centre of Kent outbreak explained
Frustration after students asked to leave vaccine queues
16:54 , Harriette BoucherStudents have expressed their frustration after being asked to leave vaccine queues they waited in for several hours.
Charlie Chevis and Isabelle Annenberg, both 18, joined the queue for a vaccination centre on the University of Kent campus in Canterbury at 11.30am after travelling 45 minutes from Medway.
They were asked to leave at around 3pm and advised to come back on Saturday.
Ms Annenberg said the university had told students the latest time to join the queue was 2pm.
She added: “I had an exam this morning, so we couldn't get here early.
“And then we've both got work over the weekend, so we can't come then.”
They said around 150 people had also been told to leave the queue.
Meningitis outbreak could spread to other parts of UK – here’s why
16:32 , Harriette BoucherSporadic household clusters of meningitis could appear over the next four weeks in other parts of the UK linked to the travel of people away from Kent, a health leader has said.
Kent County Council’s director of public health Dr Anjan Ghosh told a briefing three scenarios were being looked at over the next four weeks, with the most likely being that students who have travelled away from Kent will “incubate” the bug and there could be “household” cases elsewhere.
However, he said these would be “containable” and stressed the risk of infection is low.
It comes as the UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) said the number of cases linked to the outbreak has reached 29, up from 27 previously.
Some 18 cases have been confirmed, alongside a further 11 “probable cases” – all with links to Kent, the UKHSA said.
Meningitis: ‘Sporadic’ household clusters could appear elsewhere in UK
Kent chief medical officer insists meningitis vaccine 'highly effective'
16:16 , Harriette BoucherNearly 500 made to leave University of Kent vaccine queue
15:53 , Harriette BoucherNearly 500 people were made to leave the queue for the meningitis B vaccine on the Canterbury campus of the University of Kent.
A security official at the back of queue said 496 people were left waiting after it was closed off.
Criminology student Molly Howard is the next in line waiting behind the end of the official queue, in the hope that someone drops out.
The 20 year old, who had been queuing for two hours, said: “I’m basically trying my luck, as someone in high-vis said people had dropped out of the queue quite late on Thursday.
“If someone drops out I can take their place.”
Ms Howard had travelled two hours from her home in Folkestone to get the vaccine.
She added: “I got a bit tearful, it's fine. It brings back Covid. This brings everyone's emotions back up.”
More than 4,500 vaccines administered so far
15:38 , Harriette BoucherAs of Friday afternoon, NHS Kent and Medway have administered 4,514 vaccines.
The trust said 10,561 antibiotics had also been handed out so far.
Students wait in 'terrible' queue for hours to get vaccine
15:19 , Harriette BoucherStudents have been queuing for several hours at the University of Kent’s vaccination site on Friday.
Criminology student Megan said she had been queuing for five hours since around 9.30am.
The 19 year old, who was supposed to be at work, said she “didn't think I would be here this long.”
She said she wanted to get the vaccine as she would be back on campus as she did not want to get ill when she was back on campus in a few weeks.
Creative writing postgraduate student Dylan Al-Kadi, 25, said the queue was “terrible” but he was not leaving it after waiting since 9am.
He said it would have “made life a lot easier for all of us” if the vaccination sites had been split into two.
In pictures: Students queuing to receive vaccines and antibiotics at the University of Kent campus in Canterbury
15:03 , Harriette Boucher Recap: Scientists say meningitis strain is not new variant
14:30 , Nicole Wootton-CaneThe Independent’s health reporter Rebecca Whittaker reports:
Scientists say the meningitis strain is not a new variant and may not have mutated into an “invasive strain”.
Professor Brendan Wren, Professor of Microbial Pathogenesis, London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine said: “The initial sequence data confirms that it is a single menB strain causing the current cluster of meningitis cases.
“The MenB ST-41/44 clonal complex has been previously identified in the UK and is not a new variant. This suggests that the strain has not mutated into a more invasive strain, but scrutiny of the full genome sequences and further studies will be required to confirm this.
“The current Bexsero MenB vaccine based on the cell surface antigens of MenB strains should provide protection against the MenB ST-41/44 variant.”
Kent meningitis outbreak “very low risk” to Europe, authority says
14:01 , Harriette BoucherThe Independent’s health editor Rebecca Thomas reports:
European health authorities have said the current UK outbreak of meningitis is of “very low risk” to the general population in Europe.
In a response published this week, the “The European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC) assesses the risk to the general population in the European Union and European Economic Area (EU/EEA) of invasive meningococcal disease (IMD) related to the outbreak in Kent, England, as very low due to the very small probability of exposure and infection. If a case linked to the outbreak in England is detected in the EU/EEA, control measures should be promptly initiated to identify close contacts and administer antibiotic prophylaxis and meningococcal B (MenB) vaccination.”
However, it advised that clinicians should be aware of the possibility of meningitis in returning travellers and include travel history when assessing invasive meningococcal disease, particularly regarding those who’ve travelled to Kent.
Health chiefs warn deadly meningitis B strain mutation could be fuelling rapid spread
14:00 , Nicole Wootton-CaneA deadly meningitis B strain may have “evolved” and caused the illness to rapidly spread, health chiefs have warned.
The number of cases of meningitis linked to the outbreak in Kent has risen to 29, the UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) said on Thursday, up from 27. Some 2,360 vaccinations and 9,840 doses of antibiotics have been given to those affected by the outbreak.
But the outbreak in Canterbury is considered to be “very unusual” by scientists, as a meningitis infection is usually an isolated one-off case, with the UK seeing just one case a day on average.
The Independent’s health reporter Rebecca Whittaker reports:
Health chiefs warn deadly meningitis strain mutation could be fuelling rapid spread
More than 2,500 vaccinations administered so far
13:58 , Harriette BoucherA health official has said a ‘staggering’ 2,642 people have been vaccinated against meningitis so far.
Dr Anjan Ghosh, the director of public health at Kent County Council, said: “We fully expect that anyone who, because the criteria have been extended, so anyone who's entitled to prophylaxis (antibiotics) is entitled to the vaccination. So that's quite a large number of people.”
Earlier, the deputy chief executive of NHS Kent and Medway said his top priority was to “maximise capacity” and ensure everyone who wants a meningitis vaccine is able to get one.
Another 'super spreader' event is very unlikely to happen, council's public health director says
13:45 , Harriette BoucherThe public health director of Kent County Council said the worst case scenario of another “super spreader” event is “very unlikely to happen”.
Dr Anjan Ghosh said it is most likely that the cases will be contained in Kent with a few additional cases outside of the county, which are easy to contain.
He added: “The worst case scenario is that there's another type of event like what happened in Kent so some sort of super spreader event or something more and therefore you have a bigger, much bigger cluster like you had in Kent happening elsewhere. That's very unlikely to happen.”
If infected students have gone home for the Easter break, it “would be a very limited to household kind of thing which can be easily managed.”
Everything Juliette Kenny's father said as family call for mass vaccine rollout
13:30 , Nicole Wootton-CaneThe father of Juliette Kenny, who died aged 18 in the meningitis outbreak, has paid tribute to his daughter.
Michael Kenny called on health officials to extend the NHS vaccine programme, saying the loss he is experiencing “can be avoided”.
Here is his statement in full:
“We are incredibly proud parents to two wonderful daughters. Juliette is a force in this world. With her beautifully positive energy she spread fun, love and happiness to those around her and she continues to do so now. The devastation of her loss to us, her family and friends is immeasurable.
"Sharing stories of the empathy, warmth and fun that she created is helping her family and friends through at this time. Her energy continues to make the people who love her find a way.
"The illness took her from us so quickly. On Thursday 12th March, she successfully completed a practical element of her P.E. A-level. She was fit, healthy and strong. In the early hours of Friday 13th Juliette vomited. There were no other symptoms at this time. In the morning on Friday, she was taken, by us, to our local emergency drop-in as a discolouration appeared on her cheeks.
"She was given antibiotics and sent by ambulance to A&E. Juliette fought bravely for hours, but despite the fantastic NHS hospital staff fighting alongside her, meningitis took her from us less than 12 hours later. We were with her at the end, and the last sounds that she heard were the voices of those who loved her telling her how very much loved and cherished she is.
"No family should experience this pain and tragedy. This can be avoided. There are young people currently battling this and young people still at risk.
"As parents, we knew our children would change the world and be a force for good. The work to protect young people has started. It needs to be more. Juliette’s impact on this world must be lasting change. Now is the time to ensure families are safe from the impact of meningitis B.”
'Too early to say' whether the number of cases have peaked
13:29 , Harriette BoucherThe Kent County Council public health director Dr Anjan Ghosh said it is “too early to say” if the number of cases has peaked.
Dr Ghosh said that the data makes it appear cases are going up exponentially, but “it’s not”.
“Hopefully it's starting to slow down. I think until next week, we won't be able to say for sure, the normal sequelae of an outbreak of this sort is about four weeks,” he added.
“That's the timeframe for it to really slow down. So fully expect, in four weeks' time that it slowed down, but we can't say whether it's peaked yet.
“These are all cases which are relating to that same period of time, it's just that the reporting cycle it takes time for them to be reported, it takes time for the incubation period which is quite wide for people to actually start showing symptoms. It's not like it's spreading and more and more people are getting the infection.
“We are looking into secondary infections to make sure that that is not the case and we haven't yet been able to definitively say that's not the case, but for majority it all relates to that same single point in time.”
Health officials have suggested that the “peak” of the outbreak has passed.
Watch: Michael Rosen urges parents to check for these meningitis symptoms as he opens up on son's death
13:15 , Nicole Wootton-CaneNHS Kent's top priority is to provide vaccines to everyone who wants one, deputy chief says
13:15 , Harriette BoucherThe deputy chief executive of NHS Kent and Medway said his top priority was to “maximise capacity” and ensure everyone who wants a meningitis vaccine is able to get one.
Ed Waller told reporters: “What we're trying to do is to use our capacity to deliver consistently through the days.
“We had all of our nurses and others delivering vaccinations.
“They delivered it late into the evening on Wednesday, they started very early Tuesday, worked all the way through, they are here again this morning, they'll be through the weekend.
“So we're doing everything we can to keep the sites open at maximum capacity.”
'Plenty' of vaccine doses available, health chiefs insist
12:53 , Nicole Wootton-CaneDeputy chief executive of NHS Kent and Medway Ed Waller said there are “plenty” of doses of vaccine available in Kent.
Mr Waller told reporters that the advice to people queueing is to “just think about where they go”.
“As I said, the queue at the other site in Canterbury is shorter at the moment,” he added.
“The other two sites are operating – they’re less busy than this one. So, we will see as many of the people who are in the queue as we can today.
When asked about the closing times of the vaccine centres, he said: “We are trying to maximise the capacity and the opening hours of all the sites.
“So we are in the process of operationalising as much capacity as we can.”
All the schools with confirmed or suspected meningitis cases
12:38 , Nicole Wootton-CaneFour schools in Kent have confirmed or suspected cases of meningitis among their pupils, as Wes Streeting said sixth form students and pupils should continue to attend schools.
The four schools that reportedly have confirmed or suspected cases currently are:
– Queen Elizabeth’s Grammar School, Faversham – A year 13 pupil named as Juliette Kenny has died in the outbreak.
– Norton Knatchbull School, Ashford – Confirmed a meningitis diagnosis on Monday for a pupil admitted to hospital.
– Simon Langton Grammar School for Boys, Canterbury – The BBC reported on Monday a year 13 pupil is in hospital with meningitis.
– The Canterbury Academy, Canterbury – It was reported on Tuesday it had seen an email saying a year 13 student was being treated for meningococcal disease.
Highworth Grammar School in Ashford said on Tuesday a year 13 pupil had been admitted to hospital with a suspected case of meningitis. On Friday headteacher Duncan Beer said the student had tested negative.
It had also been reported a year 13 student at Dane Court Grammar School in Broadstairs also had the infection, but the school has since said the case is not confirmed.
Kent County Council has confirmed all its mainstream schools are open as normal.
Health officials modelling three scenarios
12:19 , Nicole Wootton-CaneDr Anjan Ghosh, the director of public health at Kent County Council, told a briefing that three “rough” scenarios are being modelled for the next four weeks as “that’s the time it takes for this whole thing (to) really subside”.
The first scenario is that the outbreak remains contained in Kent.
“Second scenario is that there are people who’ve left, they’ve gone off campus, and many of them don’t stay in Kent, they go and stay elsewhere,” Dr Ghosh said.
“They were incubating when they left, and then they become cases, and there are small household, sporadic clusters outside of Kent.”
He stressed these cases would be “containable”.
The third scenario, described by Dr Ghosh as the “worst case scenario” would result in another cluster outside of Kent.
However, he said this is “highly unlikely”, with the second scenario “most likely to be the case”.
Experts warn we could see 'sporadic household cases outside of Kent'
12:08 , Nicole Wootton-CaneHealth officials studying the Canterbury meningitis outbreak believe they may see “some sporadic household cases outside of Kent”, the director of public health at Kent County Council has told a briefing.
It comes as health chiefs suggested the peak of the outbreak may have passed.
NHS requests further 5,000 vaccine doses
12:04 , Nicole Wootton-CaneThe NHS has requested a further 5,000 doses of the meningitis B vaccine, health bosses said on Friday.
Ed Waller, deputy chief executive of NHS Kent and Medway, told a media briefing: “6,500 doses of vaccine have been delivered to Kent and Medway from the national stock. There was a request today for a further 5,000.”
Likely we are seeing 'tail end' of outbreak, expert says
11:57 , Nicole Wootton-CaneThe Independent’s health reporter Rebecca Whittaker reports:
Scientists say we may be seeing an end to this outbreak, even though case numbers could still rise.
Dr Michael Head, Senior Research Fellow in Global Health, University of Southampton, said: “There are still suspected cases under investigation, so likely the confirmed cases numbers will rise.
“There could also be new cases yet to be notified. However, given the extent of contact tracing from public health teams, and the widespread publicity, it is plausible that we are seeing the tail end of this outbreak.
“The strain appears to have good coverage from the men B vaccination, so this is also reassuring."
'Too early to say' if national vaccine programme should be rolled out
11:42 , Nicole Wootton-CaneAsked if a national vaccination programme should be recommended by the Joint Council of Vaccination and Immunisation, Kent County Council’s director of public health Dr Anjan Ghosh said in his view “at this point it’s too early to say”.
He said: “This has come up many times.
“I’m sure they’re going to look at this properly, already they are.”
'Peak' of outbreak has passed, officials suggest
11:26 , Nicole Wootton-CaneThe “peak” of the initial meningitis “superspreading event” at Club Chemistry in Canterbury has already passed, experts suggest.
However, secondary cases affecting people who were not infected at the nightclub, but caught the illness from someone who was there, are still a possibility.
Paul Hunter, professor in medicine at the University of East Anglia, said: “The incubation period, though a little uncertain, ranges from two to 10 days so I think we can be fairly certain that the peak from the initial superspreading event will have already passed.
“The question remains whether there will be any secondary cases i.e. any cases that didn’t get their infection from the night club but from someone else who did attend.
“Hopefully the antibiotic and vaccine will prevent those, but still a possibility. Even if we do see secondary cases, I doubt there will be as many as in the primary wave, though cannot be certain.”
More than 10,000 people contacted through contact tracing, expert says
11:21 , Nicole Wootton-CaneAt a press conference at the University of Kent on Friday, Kent County Council director of public health, Dr Anjan Ghosh, said that contact tracing has been done for more than 10,000 people encouraging them to come forward.
He said the particular outbreak was meningitis B and urged for anyone showing symptoms to immediately seek help.
On the extension on the vaccine, he said: “Now message is very simple if you have had antibiotics in relation to this particular incident or are eligible for it you are also eligible for vaccination so do come forward.”
Experts to address media shortly
11:19 , Nicole Wootton-CaneWe are still waiting for a media briefing from health experts in Kent to begin.
The health chiefs expected to speak are:
- Claire Winslade – Consultant in Health Protection, UK Health Security Agency South East
- Dr Ash Peshen – Deputy Chief Medical Officer, clinical lead for the outbreak response for NHS Kent and Medway
- GP Professor Dr Anjan Ghosh – Kent County Council Director of Public Health
Suspected meningitis case at Kent school tests negative
11:08 , Nicole Wootton-CaneOne of the Kent schools that previously had a suspected meningitis case has confirmed their student has tested negative.
Duncan Beer, headteacher of Highworth Grammar School in Ashford, said in a statement: “We have received information from the UK Health Security Agency that the test was negative for meningitis for our Highworth student.
“The family has confirmed this with us and the student is doing well. Therefore, we have been advised that there is no need for anyone to receive any antibiotics or vaccinations in connection to this person nor the school.
“However, there may be some people who meet the other criteria of eligibility for antibiotics or vaccinations and we have directed our school community to that information.”
