Parents have been urged to get their children vaccinated (Picture: Getty Images)
An outbreak of measles has been declared in England following a spike in the number of cases.
Two cases have been found in Leicester and the county’s director of public health, Rob Howard, has urged parents to make sure their children have had MMR jabs.
He said: ‘We have recently had two confirmed cases of measles in the city; one case is a university student, and the other is a school student.
‘The best way to protect yourself and your family is to have the MMR vaccination.
‘Anyone who hasn’t already had two doses should contact their GP surgery for an appointment to get vaccinated.’
Neither of those impacted by the recent cases had their MMR vaccine.
Cardiff has also been struck down by the viral outbreak, with officials in the city reporting seven new cases over the past six weeks.
The UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) published a measles risk assessment earlier this week.
There is no UK-wide risk yet (Picture: Getty Images)
It concluded although the risk of a UK-wide epidemic is low, an outbreak of between 40,000 to 160,000 cases could occur in London.
This is due to sub-optimal uptake of the MMR vaccine in London
The capital has seen eight positive tests so far over the last week.
The West Midlands has five cases and Wales has five cases as well, while the East of England, East Midlands, and Yorkshire and Humber reported two cases each.
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The North East and North West have only reported just one infection.
So far the South West and South East have reported no infections within the last seven days.
Measles is a highly infectious disease, which quickly spreads from person to person, especially in schools.
A child who has it will infect up to nine out of 10 children around them if not protected by a jab.
It can sometimes cause pneumonia and in some extreme cases can cause death.
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Leicester’s county’s director of public health has issued a warning.
