Overview
- Health officials will offer MenB shots to Year 11 pupils at affected schools after earlier clinics for University of Kent students, with 10,627 vaccines and 13,386 antibiotic courses given so far.
- Genome sequencing identified a distinct MenB variant in this cluster, which officials say could help explain the fast spread seen after early‑March nights at Club Chemistry in Canterbury.
- The outbreak stands at 20 confirmed cases with two under investigation, all admitted to hospital, with nine intensive‑care admissions and two student deaths.
- East Kent Hospitals Trust admitted it waited for lab confirmation before alerting UKHSA, a roughly two‑day lag the health secretary called unacceptable even as he reported no clear harm to tracing.
- UKHSA says the cluster remains contained to Kent at its lowest active response level, and it expects a few linked cases outside the county as contacts travel.