National Measles Standard Incident – measles epidemiology (from October 2023)
Updated 27 June 2024
Applies to England
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Update on England measles epidemiology
Since 1 October 2023, there have been 1,985 laboratory confirmed measles cases reported (Figure 1,2) in England, an increase of 58 cases since the last report on 20 June 2024. The following number of cases have been reported:
- 17 in October
- 43 in November
- 158 in December
- 276 in January
- 278 in February
- 334 in March
- 381 in April
- 375 in May
- 123 in June
36% (710 of 1,985) of these cases have been in London, 33% (656 of 1,985) in the West Midlands, and 9% (175 of 1,985) in the East Midlands. The majority (1,249 of 1,985, 62.9%) of these cases are in children aged 10 years and under, and 30.2% (599 of 1,985) in young people and adults aged 15 years and over (Table 1).
In the 4 weeks since 27 May 2024, there have been 165 confirmed cases. London accounted for the highest proportion of these (48%, 80 of 165). 16% (27 of 165) of cases have been in the East of England, 16% (27 of 165) in the West Midlands, 8% (13 of 165) in the South East, and 4% (7 of 165) in the Yorkshire and Humber regions. There was a rapid increase in cases in late 2023 driven by a large outbreak in Birmingham but this has now stabilised. There has subsequently been a rise in cases in London and small clusters in other regions.
Figure 1. Laboratory confirmed cases of measles by month of onset of rash or symptoms reported, London and England: 1 January 2012 to 24 June 2024 [notes 1 and 2]
Figure 2. Laboratory confirmed cases of measles by week of onset of rash or symptoms reported, London, West Midlands and England: 1 October 2023 to 24 June 2024 [notes 1 and 2]
[note 1] Cases confirmed through either local or reference laboratory testing.
[note 2] Data are provisional and subject to change as:
- more suspected cases undergo confirmatory testing
- some locally tested cases are discarded after confirmatory testing at the reference laboratory.
The data reporting lag has had the greatest impact on the most recent 4 weeks and therefore the reported figures are likely to underestimate activity. For this reason, these data points are represented by dotted lines.
Table 1. Laboratory confirmed cases of measles by age group and region in England: 1 October 2023 to 24 June 2024 [note 3]
| Age group | East Midlands | East of England | London | North East | North West | South East | South West | West Midlands | Yorkshire and Humber | England |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Under 1 year | 8 | 12 | 94 | 13 | 8 | 9 | 3 | 86 | 9 | 242 |
| 1 to 4 years | 48 | 44 | 201 | 16 | 19 | 9 | 7 | 172 | 30 | 546 |
| 5 to 10 years | 57 | 30 | 178 | 19 | 5 | 6 | 4 | 145 | 17 | 461 |
| 11 to 14 years | 17 | 3 | 35 | 7 | 5 | 3 | 0 | 64 | 3 | 137 |
| 15 to 24 years | 22 | 6 | 79 | 3 | 10 | 8 | 5 | 84 | 9 | 226 |
| 25 to 34 years | 12 | 7 | 59 | 8 | 15 | 14 | 6 | 58 | 12 | 191 |
| 35 years and over | 11 | 11 | 64 | 10 | 16 | 8 | 3 | 47 | 12 | 182 |
| Total | 175 | 113 | 710 | 76 | 78 | 57 | 28 | 656 | 92 | 1,985 |
[note 3] Data are provisional and subject to change as:
- more suspected cases undergo confirmatory testing
- some locally tested cases are discarded after obtaining further epidemiological information or undergoing confirmatory testing at the reference laboratory