Risk of summer holidays causing surge in measles cases in England

Source: UKHSA, 5 June 2025

The UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) today publishes its monthly update on measles cases in England, which shows outbreaks continuing, with 109 cases confirmed in April and 86 so far in May. Cases have predominantly been in unvaccinated children aged 10 years and under, with on-going outbreaks in a number of regions and London reporting almost half of all cases in the past four weeks.

There has also been a global increase in measles cases including Europe over the last year and the Agency is concerned, that with travelling for holidays or to visit family this summer, there is a risk this could lead to another surge of measles cases in England.

The latest measles epidemiology report on the UKHSA Data Dashboard today reports:

• Since 1 January there have been 420 laboratory confirmed measles cases reported in England
• 109 measles cases were confirmed in April and to date 86 in May[i] (data reporting lags impact on most recent 4 weeks and therefore the figures are likely to be an underestimate)
• The majority (276/420, 66%) of these cases were in children aged 10 years and under, but there are also cases being reported in young people and adults
• London has seen the highest number of cases overall this year (162/420, 39%) and in the last 4 weeks (35/75, 47%)
• A number of other regions are also reporting outbreaks – with 25% (19/75) of cases in the North West, and 11% (8/75) in the West Midlands in the last 4 weeks

Since the introduction of the measles vaccine in 1968, at least 20 million measles cases and 4,500 deaths have been prevented in the UK.

However, measles remains endemic in many countries around the world, and with declines in MMR vaccine uptake observed over the last decade, exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic, we have also seen large measles outbreaks in Europe and other countries.