COVID-19, Ebola, Hantavirus, Measles and other Health and Virus UK and World News Update 12th June 2026
Analysis published by the Royal College of Em
ergency Medicine (RCEM) estimates that in England in 2025 there were 15,860 excess deaths due to long waits in A&E.
ergency Medicine (RCEM) estimates that in England in 2025 there were 15,860 excess deaths due to long waits in A&E.
This is down almost 800 on 2024 when it was 16,644, but still almost 10 times what it was in 2015 (1,657), and frankly heartbreaking. It equates to 300 people a week dying when they should have survived.
Risk of death began to rise after 5 hours waiting, becoming increasingly worse. After an 8-12 hour wait, there is one excess death for every 72 patients.
In 2025: "1,688,555 patients waited 12 hours or more to be admitted, discharged or transferred from major Emergency Departments. Of these patients, 1,141,944 were waiting to be admitted to a ward for further care".
The RCEM make it clear this is a "conservative estimate", the true numbers could well be higher. They are rightly unhappy that this situation is not being urgently addressed by Government. It requires more hospital beds and staff throughout hospitals. Emergency departments are not going to be able to solve this however hard they keep trying, and they really are trying.
Resident doctors and consultants in Northern Ireland will strike on 25th and 29th June in a dispute over pay.
In large part because of the Kent Meningitis B outbreak, and 2 other smaller outbreaks since then, for the first time around 1 million young people aged 17-24 in England, Wales and Scotland (N. Ireland to follow) will be offered the 2-dose MenB vaccination this Summer. The UK already gives this jab to babies, but by age 17 protection has waned.
After 25 years of very low case numbers, it may be that changes have occurred making MenB affect us more severely. This is a one-off vaccination which will be assessed to help decide if it should be added to the regular schedule. Young people in the UK are already vaccinated at age 14 for other strains of Meningitis (MenACWY).
The jab will be offered by letter to pupils in their final year of education (year 13/S6), and those beginning their first year at uni or residential further education will need to book it themselves through pharmacies.
My partner survived Meningitis, it makes me happy that our teenage son will be able to get this jab.
The New World Screwworm has entered the USA. We've been tracking it's movement across Mexico for about a year, and sadly the inevitable has happened.
Last week the first case was detected in a calf in La Pryor, Texas, about 30m/48km from the Mexico border. The second came a few days later, in a calf around 5.6m/9km away in Zavala County, Texas.
Last Friday Texas Governor Greg Abbott declared a state of disaster because of the "imminent threat" from the outbreak. He wasn't wrong.
This week there have been more cases, a calf in La Salle County, Texas, and more concerning, a dog in Lea County in New Mexico. The 5th case is a goat in Texas, and the 6th another calf in La Salle.
Canada's Food Inspection Agency has immediately banned imports of any cattle or horses that have been in Texas in the last 3 weeks.
To jog your memory, New World Screwworm is exactly what it sounds like. The flies lay their eggs in open wounds and mucous membranes, and the maggots eat the animal's flesh. Female New World Screwworm flies only mate once, so to combat the outbreak millions of sterile male flies are released. Sniffer dogs can also be deployed to detect the flies. The US has been 'rapidly' building another fly-producing facility for several months now...
To also jog your memory, in March 2025 Trump, Elon Musk and DOGE defunded and closed down a lot of 'foreign aid' programmes, including Screwworm (and bird flu) monitoring. It only took 15 months to bite them on the behind. This is utterly devastating for Texas and wherever it reaches, and will also push up the price of beef, milk, etc. It will potentially cost billions.
In response to the sudden detection of cases, the US CDC, APHIS and other agencies have launched a 'Unified Government Response To Protect the United States'. This is not a food safety issue, food is safe. This is an animal welfare and animal health issue. Humans are only very rarely infected. You can find out more at Screwworm dot gov
The Africa CDC, WHO and partners have launched a 'Continental Preparedness and Response Plan' to fight the Bundibugyo Ebola outbreak in DRC and Uganda. It is estimated it will cost US$518 million for June-November 2026. (Partners include FIND for equitable access to reliable diagnosis, the IFRC International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent, the WFP World Food Programme, UNHCR UN Refugee Agency and UNICEF children's charity.)
On Friday 29th May Ebola testing capabilities in DRC were ramped up from 40 a day to 100, although in some cases it can still take 4 days to get test results.
With the increase in testing capability DRC has removed all 'suspected' cases from their Ebola stats. Understandably the figures went down dramatically.
On Friday 29th the figures for DRC were 1,253 cases and 240 deaths.
The new figures on 30th May were 574 confirmed cases and 17 confirmed deaths.
Any suspected Ebola patients who have already recovered, or who died without testing, will no longer be counted. Which feels kind of sad. They aren't just numbers, they are people.
On Thursday DRC had reported 676 confirmed cases, 136 confirmed deaths. So far 32 people have recovered and been able to go home to their families. 406 contacts had completed their 21 day quarantine. 490 tons of medical equipment have arrived and are in use in the affected areas of Ituri, and North and South Kivu.
As of Thursday morning Uganda had reported 19 confirmed cases, 11 hospital admissions and 5 people recovered (including 4 nurses). Sadly 2 people have died, and another suspected case who was unconfirmed before they passed.
Logistics is still proving a huge problem for the Ebola response.
Medecins Sans Frontieres/Doctors Without Borders Medical Coordinator: "Uganda and Rwanda’s borders with the DRC are closed. We are not able to move medication. We are not able to move even tests for diagnosis from those countries. So this is definitely negatively affecting the response".
The World Health Organisation (WHO) has asked countries NOT to close borders, as it prevents legitimate agencies from working, but doesn’t stop people just walking across in rural areas. If you've got money, it's even easier to seem legitimate. One of the Ebola patients in Uganda travelled by plane from DRC through UAE to get to Uganda - risking infecting far more people than if they'd just gone straight from one to the other.
In order that they are available for clinical trial as soon as possible, The Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations (CEPI) announced last week that it will urgently accelerate the development of 3 investigational vaccines targeting the Bundibugyo Ebolavirus - basically by throwing initial funding at them:
- the single-dose rVSV Bundibugyo vaccine from the International AIDS Vaccine Initiative, which is not likely to be ready for clinical trials for 7-9 months. US$3.2 million to "generate a Master Virus Seed stock".
- ChAdOx1 Bundibugyo from Oxford Vaccine Group and manufactured by Serum Institute of India, potentially available for clinical trial within 2–3 months. US$8.6 million for the clinical trial, creation of a Master Virus Seed stock and manufacturing of doses.
- Moderna mRNA vaccine, which can be swiftly manufactured, and quickly adapted to suit any new strains. US$50 million for preclinical testing and Phase 1 clinical trials, with simultaneous large scale manufacturing to enable Phase 2/3 trials to begin immediately if Phase 1 data supports it.
Fingers AND toes crossed there...
US CDC modelling of the current Bundibugyo Ebola outbreak warns that rapid case detection and isolation is vital, and will make a HUGE difference to the outcome.
Worst case scenario, with only 20% of cases isolated (basically just those who become seriously ill), there could be over 20,000 cases and 2,000 deaths within the next 3 months. If however 70% of infected people are isolated, it's highly unlikely (a 1 in 20 chance) even 10,000 people would be infected over the next 3 months.
The Trump administration is already blaming Europe for any spread of Ebola during the FIFA World Cup.
They are unhappy that Europe is following WHO guidelines with light travel restrictions, and want it to be like the USA, encouraging lying by randomly banning all citizens who travelled to "Ebola-affected countries" in the last 3 weeks. This includes South Sudan, which hasn't had a single case of Ebola, Uganda which has contact-traced and isolated like a textbook, and DRC - which only has cases in a UK-sized portion of a country 1/4 the size of the entire USA.
As the EU Commission said in their reply, there's no evidence to suggest that would make any difference, and risk to anyone in Europe is very low, so exit screening is enough.
The EU response to the Bundibugyo Ebolavirus outbreak is to address 3 areas as a priority:
1. Support the outbreak response in Africa
2. Raise EU preparedness, just in case
3. Increase research efforts to develop treatments and vaccines.
The US plan to have a quarantine and treatment facility in Kenya for any Ebola-exposed Americans really isn't going well. Kenyan politicians agreed, the public began protesting, a judge blocked it, the US carried on building it, and protests have got far bigger and much more angry. 3 protestors have now been shot dead by police. Public and the courts say it puts Kenyans at risk, when Kenya so far has not reported anyone infected with Bundibugyo Ebolavirus. The politicians defend their agreement as being 'humane' (and rumoured to be very well-paid).
STAT News report that Americans with high-risk Ebola exposure will be given a newly authorised experimental antibody treatment called MBP134. This is a mix of 2 human antibodies, which were originally taken from the blood of someone who survived the 2013–2016 Zaire Ebola outbreak.
Sadly it seems unlikely that any citizens of DRC or Uganda will have access to this treatment, even though it couldn't exist without the original African patient.
Last week US Secretary of State Marko Rubio announced that in light of the Ebola outbreak, the US will "re-engage" with GAVI, the global vaccines initiative. He said: "We have certainly allowed Sec. Kennedy to play a leading role, but right now we're at a stage where we are going to reengage."
Only my opinion, but that sounds just like when a parent has had enough and wants the job done properly now, I mean, crikey, he even says "play".
The Andes strain Hantavirus outbreak is still stable, the total number of cases remains at 13 including 3 fatalities.
The MV Hondius passenger in Tristan de Cunha, who was critically ill and had UK defence medics parachute in with equipment to look after him, has recovered. Bless him. Well done to everyone there. The medical team have now returned to the UK, and the UKHSA laboratories have confirmed his positive Hantavirus test result. Touch wood, but no-one else on the island has become ill.
Only 1 of 4 Canadians on the MV Hondius has ever tested positive, they have also recovered and been discharged from hospital to finish quarantine.
8 of the US citizens who were on the MV Hondius are now quarantining at home, while 10 remain under observation in Omaha. They were allowed to go home on condition that they have a 24 hour guard outside, so they all get to make new friends.
One of the 10 still in Omaha is Angela Perryman, the person who requested she go home to Florida on day 3, and in return was given a mandatory quarantine order until 31st May. She says she is being held against her will, which is true. Florida isn't prepared to offer a 24 hour guard though, so poor Angela is stuck.
Measles. Honestly, this is just tragic. The vaccine is super safe and effective at preventing 97% of cases, but infections are soaring in the US, Asia, Europe and in the UK.
UKHSA:
"Since the last update 2 weeks ago, a further 106 laboratory confirmed measles cases have been reported in England, bringing the total number of confirmed cases between 1 January and 8 June 2026 to 736, compared to 959 cases for the whole of 2025. In the most recent 4 weeks, activity has been highest in London, the East of England and the West Midlands.
Sadly, to date in 2026, there have been 2 measles deaths in children in England."
It isn’t just about 2 dead children, although that is sad enough. These figures don't tell you who has been blinded or deafened or left with brain damage, or who will develop SSPE, a rare degenerative brain disease caused by measles. Those figures will never be able to tell you for whom measles broke their previous immunity to chicken pox, COVID, flu or anything else, causing them to die or be permanently injured the next time they catch it.
The Pan American Health Organization (PAHO) has reported 20,521 measles cases already this year in the 16 countries of the Americas Region, including 25 deaths. Last year's record-breaking figures were 15,152 and 29 deaths.
As of 4th June Mexico is still suffering the worst with 10,920 cases. Guatemala had reported 6,209. Canada had reported 1,018 cases.
Up to yesterday the United States has reported 2,073 cases, with South Carolina, Utah and Texas still worst affected. Florida are in 4th position and by May already had their highest figures for 25 years.
H5N1 Avian Flu is still in it's low-season across the Northern hemisphere as we approach Summer.
The UK lifted the mandatory housing order for farmed birds at noon on 4th June. There have been no reported cases for several weeks now.
The US reports 22 bird flocks infected in the past month (14 commercial, 8 backyard). Unfortunately the cattle situation isn't as good, with 36 dairy cows confirmed infected in the last 30 days, mainly in Utah and Idaho plus 1 in Texas.
University researchers studying Texan wastewater back in March 2024 suddenly detected H5N1 bird flu in 10 different cities simultaneously.
That's pretty spectacular, and over the next 4 months they detected it in wastewater at 22 of 23 monitoring sites, and in 100 of 399 samples.
What they didn't realise at the time was that it coincided with H5N1 Avian Flu crossing into dairy cattle.
Wastewater monitoring is such an amazingly effective and useful tool.
The UK Government is now offering farms with at least 1,000 hens or 500 large poultry funded biosecurity vet visits to assess disease risk (including H5N1) and advise on actions to reduce it.
A 43 year old man has tested positive for Nipah Virus in Kerala, India. He is stable, but ventilated. Aside from other things, Nipah affects the lungs and brain, and has a very high fatality rate, estimated to be 40-75%.
Contact tracing has identified 77 people at risk - 58 healthcare workers, 14 family and 5 friends / colleagues. All higher risk contacts have been placed in quarantine, and so far no-one has developed symptoms, but keep your fingers crossed...
England currently has high case numbers of Salmonella & Campylobacter. These stomach bugs are caused by bacteria, symptoms are mostly diarrhoea and vomiting, and honestly they can mostly be prevented by washing your hands, surfaces and vegetables before preparing or eating food, not making food for other people when you are ill, and cooking meat properly. Wash down children and pram wheels after farm visits, and don't drink from puddles or lick sheep. Be sensible, keep yourself and your loved ones well.
The revolving door at US Health and Human Services continues to spin. Acting Director at NIAID (National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases) Jeffery Taubenberger has been replaced by Acting Director John H. Powers. No reason given, so we can make one up. I dunno, maybe Jeffery believed in infectious diseases?
In more promising news for anyone ill in America, US doctors have just elected Sandra Fryhofer, described by Politico as "an internist from Atlanta and uncompromising Kennedy critic" as new President of the American Medical Association (AMA).
Previously the AMA took a fairly reserved stance and attempted to keep RFK Jr on speaking terms, this may be about to change...
In parts of the US there has been a massive increase in the tick-borne illness Alpha-Gal Syndrome.
I have written about this before, it's when a bite from a Lone Star Tick causes you to become allergic to 'mammalian products', so basically red meat, dairy, gelatine etc. This can be anything from a mild rash or dodgy tummy to potentially deadly anaphylaxis. Unusually the allergic reaction can take several hours to occur, so it may not be obvious what caused it, and then linking it to a tick bite you might have had days or weeks ago is tricky, so alpha-gal can take a while to diagnose.
Over the past few years ticks carrying alpha-gal have increased exponentially, and so have diagnosed patients. In Martha’s Vineyard 5 years ago there were 2 confirmed cases. Last year there were over 500.
Massachusetts has now classified alpha-gal a 'public health concern' and 14 states will be sharing data for the next year in order to assess the true size of the problem.
Lone Star Ticks are most commonly found in the Northeast, South, and Midwest United States.
Some good news. Sexually Transmitted Infections in the UK dropped overall last year, in some cases spectacularly - Syphilis down 13.5%, Gonorrhoea down 10.9% and newly diagnosed genital warts down 7.3%.
There is some bad news though, cases in heterosexual women actually rose - so ladies, you need to care for yourselves more!
Vincent Munster, who is (or was) chief of the Virus Ecology section at Rocky Mountain Laboratories in Hamilton, Montana, and his colleague Claude Kwe, have been charged with smuggling vials of deactivated mpox virus into the US from Africa without the necessary permissions or declaring them to customs. When questioned at the airport they then lied to officials.
Gordon Bennett. Why?
Mega-corporation Google has a little-known 'de-bug' programme, which has been running for the last 10 years and aims to find ways to control disease-spreading mosquitoes. They have applied for US federal approval to spend the next 2 years releasing around 32 million bacteria-infected male mosquitoes (males don't bite) in California and Florida.
The plan involves Culex mosquitoes, which can spread West Nile virus and St. Louis encephalitis. Males would be infected with the naturally-occurring bacteria Wolbachia (which is present in around half of insect species) before release, disrupting breeding.
The World Mosquito Programme already breed Wolbachia mosquitoes for release, as they have been proven to reduce instances of other diseases, including dengue, Zika and chikungunya.
Marc Johnson, wastewater detective at the University of Missouri and SecureBio collaborator:
"I’m so excited. My secret (not so secret) observational experiment is about to begin.
This is a once in a lifetime opportunity for wastewater surveillance.
FIFA World cup."
A group of US experts have formed the Health Security Operations Center and will be giving daily updates on what they find in wastewater during the FIFA Football World Cup. Loads of people and agencies are involved, and it really will demonstrate what wastewater can tell us - often days or weeks before hospitals and doctors.
They'll be checking for everything from Ebola and flu to tummy upsets and measles, and forewarning the public and healthcare providers if they see any signals.
If this is the kind of thing you find fascinating, you can even sign up for daily updates... on world cup supporter's poo. Ermm...
It is the weekend! Huzzah! Scotland has an 'optional' extra bank holiday on Monday for the football, so it's only fair we watch it, although I don't think my puppy will believe we should get a lie in. My youngest son especially will be glued to the action, with my partner complaining and bored because he does not like football - you can never please everyone. However you are spending your weekend, please don't forget to be kind to yourself and do something you want to do, just for you. You earnt it.
I'll hopefully be back in 2 weeks, until then... Smile With Friends, Play Outdoors, Save The NHS.
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Sources Recurring COVID H5N1 Measles etc
https://www.worldometers.info/coronavirus/
https://coronavirus.data.gov.uk/
https://ourworldindata.org/covid-vaccinations
https://www.gov.uk/coronavirus
UK Health Data
https://ukhsa-dashboard.data.gov.uk/
UK latest COVID cases UPDATES THURSDAY 4pm
https://ukhsa-dashboard.data.gov.uk/respiratory-viruses/covid-19
GP surveillance England Primary Care
https://www.rcgp.org.uk/representing-you/research-at-rcgp/research-surveillance-centre/public-health-data
Reference pages H5N1
https://bnonews.com/index.php/human-cases-of-h5n1-bird-flu/
https://www.paho.org/en/topics/avian-influenza
https://www.cdc.gov/bird-flu/situation-summary/index.html
Measles Sit Rep US CDC
UK cases Measles
Canada Measles
https://health-infobase.canada.ca/measles-rubella/
Images Sources
Ebola image Uganda
WHO Health security is security image
Kenya is Ebola free government messaging image
Uganda healthworkers advice to stay safe image
Text Sources
RCEM statement and quotes A&E waiting times
More than 1,300 deaths a month in England due to long A&E waits, figures suggest
Resident doctors pay dispute NI
Men B vaccine offered to school leavers/uni starters
Meningitis B vaccine to be offered to thousands of young people in July - BBC News
Screwworm dot gov information website
Screwworm.gov
Unified Government Response To Protect the United States
6th case NW Screwworm and response
3rd and 4th cases NWS
Flesh-eating screwworm: Canada bans Texas over US outbreak - BBC News
Animal Health Officials Respond to Second Detection of New World Screwworm in the United States
March 2025
US fighting screwworm with flies and sniffer dogs
Dog from New Mexico
First 2 cases NWS
Cases of NWS in Central America and Mexico
As of May 20, 2026, these countries have reported more than 171,700 NWS cases in animals and more than 1,960 cases in people.
US CDC situation summary NWS
Mexico NWS cases to date
The New World Screwworm has reached the United States.
New World Screwworm in US
NWS only 25m from the border with Texas
Ebolavirus sources
As of 6 June, the DRC had reported a total of 515 confirmed cases, with 91 deaths, while Uganda had reported 19 confirmed cases, including two deaths, as well as one probable case who has died, according to WHO figures. There have been no known cases in Kenya.
WHO announcement continental response plan
FIND
https://www.finddx.org/ - equitable access to reliable diagnosis
Join continental response plan for Ebola
Ebola figures now confirmed only
Friday 29th
Saturday 30th
Uganda does not count suspected cases.
MSF cannot move medicine or tests because borders closed.
Ugandan Ebola patient travelled through UAE
4 days to get test results
Locals think aid workers are there to kill them
Archive link
EBOLA FIGURES
BNO totals Thursday
DRC Ministry totals Thursday
Uganda Thursday
CNN Ebola visuals
8 more patients recovered DRC Ebola
Contacts and equipment
4 nurses discharged after recovering from Ebola in DRC. 5 people in total have recovered so far.
Uganda no new infections 5 days - Thursday AM
https://x.com/i/status/2064950765588725996
No new ebola cases in Uganda for 3 days - Tuesday
https://x.com/i/status/2064108685992071366
Ebola latest Ian MacKay Tuesday
https://x.com/i/status/2064219016563138749
Uganda Saturday
According to @MinofHealthUG, Uganda has confirmed 19 Ebola cases so far, 14 imported from the DRC and five locally transmitted.
Ebola case discovery for Friday/Saturday
https://x.com/i/status/2063222334367166877
WHO Media briefing Ebola Wednesday 3rd June
WHO sit rep
Daily Ebola update:
Thurs night
1,031 cases / 240 deaths (removed people who tested negative)
BNO Thursday night
Uganda. 2 recoveries. 1 death. Only 4 active cases.
Wednesday
- Cases: 1,205 (+156)
- Deaths: 264 (+23)
https://x.com/i/status/2059617798649749762
Daily update ebola Sunday 1,005 + 5, 230 +1
https://x.com/i/status/2058642465301618855
Monday
854 (112 confirmed) cases, 179 deaths
US rejoins GAVI video
CEPI announcement Bundibugyo vaccine funding
Oxford Bundibugyo ebolavirus vaccine candidate receives CEPI backing |
Ebola modelling US CDC
Ebola world cup
Trump admin blaming Europe for Ebola spread world cup
feds ask for travel restrictions ahead of World Cup
urging European countries to implement travel restrictions related to the outbreak
EU Ebola response
US facility in Kenya protested
Footage of mass protests against US Ebola facility in Kenya
Kenya Ebola facility not good
https://x.com/i/status/2060585457319284920
MBP134 experimental antibody treatment Ebola
STAT News Experimental antibody treatment
Ebola DRC footage of aid workers attempting to take a sealed coffin for burial and having to put down the coffin and leave because of an angry crowd.
UKHSA update on the hantavirus cruise ship outbreak
Hantavirus remains stable Saturday at 13 cases, 3 deaths
https://x.com/i/status/2063223892395598231
Canadian cruise passenger who tested positive for hantavirus has recovered, health officials say
US passengers
Hantavirus passengers released - except 1
all 18 passengers had been encouraged to complete the full monitoring period at the facility.
Hantavirus Cruise Passenger Says She's Being Held Against Will
Angela is stuck Hantavirus
Hantavirus-exposed cruise passengers may soon be allowed to return home but must remain under 24/7 watch
how Defence Medical personnel helped stabilise a critically ill patient on a remote island
Two children dead as measles rips through UK - parents warned of killer side effects as cases soar a fifth in a week
UKHSA blog measles update
Latest US measles cases - to Thursday
Measles Americas
H5N1 Has Been Detected in Wastewater Across 10 Texas Cities
Funded poultry biosecurity vet visits now available
Nipah in Kerala
Nipah WHO factsheet
Salmonella and Campylobacter
US NIAID
America’s doctors just voted for war with RFK Jr. - POLITICO
Massachusetts alpha-gal
Massachusetts date Alpha-gal
Alpha-gal allergy
Lone Star Tick distribution
STIs fall with syphilis among gay and bisexual men lowest in a decade
2 scientists charged with bringing deactivated mpox virus into US without permission
World Mosquito Programme
Google wants to release more than 30 million mosquitoes across California and Florida
Google Seeks Approval to Release 32 Million Mosquitoes in US to Help Fight Disease
Wastewater checking during the world cup
Health Security Operations Center daily updates
Georgetown Uni - what we do
Marc Johnson
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