The Public Health Agency (PHA) has said there are currently no plans to close schools in Northern Ireland despite an unseasonal leap in the number of scarlet fever and Strep A cases.
It comes just hours after it emerged that a five-year-old child at a West Belfast primary school, where last week a severe case of the Strep A bacterial infection was reported, has died.
The P2 pupil at Black Mountain Primary School became severely ill last week and was treated in intensive care at the Royal Belfast Hospital for Sick Children, but sadly died on Monday evening.
