Research and analysis

Confirmed cases of measles in England by month, age, region and upper-tier local authority: 2025

Updated 3 July 2025

Applies to England

England measles epidemiology 2025

This report describes measles epidemiology in England from 1 January 2025.

Situational update

In 2024 there were 2,911 laboratory confirmed measles cases in England, the highest number of cases recorded annually, since 2012. This was initially driven by an outbreak in Birmingham but was soon overtaken by a large outbreak in London, with small clusters in other regions. Case counts followed a downward trajectory from mid-July with small, localised outbreaks continuing in some regions. Here we present the epidemiology for measles from 1 January 2025. Data for 2023 and 2024 and historical data is available.

Since 1 January 2025, there have been 529 laboratory confirmed measles cases reported in England, an increase of 109 cases since the last report on 5 June 2025 (Figures 1 and 2).

Summary

The number of laboratory confirmed measles cases by month of symptom onset in 2025 to date are:

• January: 88
• February: 68
• March: 68
• April: 108
• May: 128
• June: 69 (to date)

The UKHSA data dashboard provides tabular data on the total number of cases by week of onset in 2025.

The majority (357 of 529, 68%) of these cases were in children aged 10 years and under, and 27% (142 of 529) were in young people and adults aged 15 years and over (Table 1). 44% (233 of 529) of these cases have been in London, 12% (64 of 529) in the East of England, and 12% (64 of 529) in the North West. 84 upper tier local authorities (UTLAs) have reported at least one confirmed case with symptom onset since January 2025, with the highest numbers reported in Bristol (47 of 529, 9%), Hackney (46 of 529, 9%) and Leeds (29 of 529, 5%) (Table 2a).

The vaccination status of all confirmed cases is published quarterly in the health protection reports.

No acute measles-related deaths have been reported so far in 2025. Information on historical measles-related deaths is available on the notifications and deaths webpage.

Recent activity

There have been 68 laboratory confirmed measles cases with symptom onset date in the 4 weeks since 2 June 2025. Data reporting lags have had the greatest impact on the most recent 4 weeks and therefore the reported figures are likely to underestimate activity. London accounted for the highest proportion of these cases (66%, 45 of 68), 24% (16 of 68) of cases were in the North West, and 9% (6 of 68) in the West Midlands. 19 UTLAs have reported at least one confirmed case with symptom onset since 2 June 2025, with the highest number of cases reported in Hackney (n=22) (Table 2b).

Figure 1. Laboratory confirmed cases of measles by month of onset of rash or symptoms reported, London and England: 1 January 2012 to 30 June 2025 [notes 1 and 2]

Figure 2. Laboratory confirmed cases of measles by week of onset of rash or symptoms reported, London and England: 1 January 2025 to 30 June 2025 [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 January 2025 to 30 June 2025 [note 3]

Age group	East Midlands	East of England	London	North East	North West	South East	South West	West Midlands	Yorkshire and Humber	England
less than 1 year	6	6	26	1	11	1	10	7	4	72
1 to 4 years	3	17	74	2	26	5	13	14	14	168
5 to 10 years	0	20	66	0	11	3	6	4	7	117
11 to 14 years	1	4	15	0	2	0	4	1	3	30
15 to 24 years	4	9	22	0	3	6	5	4	3	56
25 to 34 years	2	6	19	0	6	2	11	2	2	50
35 years and older	1	2	11	3	5	2	9	0	3	36
Total	17	64	233	6	64	19	58	32	36	529

Note 3: 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

Table 2a. Number of laboratory confirmed measles cases by region and upper tier local authority (UTLA), England: 1 January 2025 to 30 June 2025 [note 4]

Upper tier local authority (UTLA)	Region	Total cases
Bristol	South West	47
Hackney	London	46
Leeds	Yorkshire and Humber	29
Salford	North West	27
Birmingham	West Midlands	26
Newham	London	24
Essex	East of England	22
Hertfordshire	East of England	21
Waltham Forest	London	18
Lewisham	London	17
Harrow	London	15
Camden	London	13
Haringey	London	11

Note 4: Case counts have been suppressed to not present any UTLAs with fewer than 10 cases.

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

Table 2b. Number of laboratory confirmed measles cases by region and upper tier local authority (UTLA), England: 2 June 2025 to 30 June 2025 [note 5]

Upper tier local authority (UTLA)	Region	Total cases
Hackney	London	22

Note 5: Case counts have been suppressed to not present any UTLAs with fewer than 10 cases.

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

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.

This page is updated every 4 weeks. The next scheduled update is on 31 July 2025.