How to avoid Strep A and is it contagious?

Sign up for our free Health Check email to receive exclusive analysis on the week in health Get our free Health Check email Get our free Health Check email SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy policy Fifteen children are confirmed to have died from Strep A in recent weeks, and the UK Health Security Agency has confirmed there has been an increase in infections. Speaking to Sky News on Tuesday morning, Dr Colin Brown, deputy director of the UKHSA, suggested that a lack of mixing due to the Covid pandemic, with changes to mixing and susceptibility in children, were probably “bringing forward the normal scarlet fever season” from spring to this side of Christmas. He explained that the UK was witnessing “a larger number of infections, for example, causing scarlet fever, than we would normally see this time of year.” In a bid to reassure parents, Dr Brown said told the broadcaster that “the information we have available at the moment is that there is no change” in the circulating strains of Strep A bacteria that is making them more severe. “We are seeing a larger number of infections, for example, causing scarlet fever, than we would normally see this time of year.” To slow the spread of infection and best protect children, the UKSHA advises maintaining good hand and respiratory hygeine.