Research and analysis

National Measles Standard Incident - measles epidemiology (from October 2023)

Updated 25 April 2024

Applies to England

Update on England measles epidemiology

Since 1 October 2023, there have been 1,212 laboratory confirmed measles cases reported (Figure 1, 2) in England, 103 new cases since the last published report on 18 April 2024. 17 cases were reported in October, 41 in November, 153 in December, 274 in January, 263 in February, 307 in March and 157 so far in April. 45.5% (551 of 1,212) of these cases have been in the West Midlands, 26.4% (320 of 1,212) in London, and 9.6% (116 of 1,212) in the East Midlands. The majority (776 of 1,212, 64.0%) of these cases are in children under the age of 10 years and 28.8% (349 of 1212) in young people and adults over the age of 15 years (Table 1).

In the past 4 weeks (since 25 March 2024) there have been 220 newly confirmed cases. This represents an increase on the 191 newly confirmed cases reported for the equivalent period in the data published on 18 April 2024. The highest number of cases were reported from London (94 of 220, 42.7%), West Midlands (47 of 220, 21.4%), and North East (23 of 220, 10.5%) regions. During this period, all regions have had confirmed cases.

The rapid increase in cases seen in late 2023 was initially driven by a large outbreak in Birmingham but activity there has now stabilised and in more recent weeks we have seen a rise in cases in London and smaller clusters ongoing in other regions.

Data included in this report 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

Figure 1. Laboratory confirmed cases of measles by month of onset of rash or symptoms reported, London and England: 1 January 2012 to 22 April 2024 [note 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 22 April 2024 [note 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 and are therefore depicted with dotted lines

The data reporting lag has greatest impact on the most recent 4 weeks which are therefore represented by dotted lines.

Table 1. Laboratory confirmed cases of measles by age group and region in England: 1 October 2023 to 22 April 2024 [note 3]

Age group	East Midlands	East of England	London	North East	North West	South East	South West	West Midlands	Yorkshire and The Humber	England
Under 1 year	7	6	37	4	6	4	0	81	5	150
1 to 4 years	30	12	107	7	20	5	2	148	21	352
5 to 10 years	43	10	67	10	7	1	3	119	14	274
11 to 14 years	15	0	9	2	5	1	0	53	2	87
15 to 19 years	9	2	18	0	5	1	2	43	0	80
20 to 24 years	4	0	20	0	2	1	1	21	5	54
25 to 29 years	3	2	13	1	4	2	3	28	5	61
30 to 34 years	0	0	16	1	5	1	2	22	4	51
35 years and over	5	5	33	3	11	2	0	36	8	103
Total	116	37	320	28	65	18	13	551	64	1,212

[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