On 17 May, the World Health Organization (WHO) declared that the Ebola disease outbreak in the Democratic Republic of the Congo and Uganda constitutes a public health emergency of international concern (PHEIC).

The current Ebola outbreak poses a low risk to the UK population. Although the outbreak is serious, it is rare for Ebola cases to occur in returning travellers and the NHS has safe procedures in place for any such cases and specialist centres where they can be looked after. We will continue to work closely with international partners.

When a serious outbreak like this is identified overseas, UKHSA works to assess and monitor the situation and provide up to date information and advice to the public, travellers and the NHS. UKHSA also works with the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office, Department for Transport and Border Force to ensure travellers returning from affected areas know what to do if they develop symptoms. We also provide testing services to the NHS for anyone who is unwell after travelling to the affected areas and support workers returning from the outbreak area.

As this situation develops, we will continuously update our newly published blog. 

UKHSA is continuing to monitor, respond to and provide public health advice regarding an outbreak of hantavirus linked to the Dutch cruise ship MV Hondius. The risk to the general public remains very low.

You can find further updates on the public health response:

• News updates: UKHSA has a rolling news page on GOV.UK providing the latest information on cases including British nationals. The latest update was made on Sunday 17 May. 
• New blog: Last week we published a blog on UKHSA's role in taking diagnostics to Saint Helena, UK Overseas Territory in the South Atlantic which had become part of the hantavirus outbreak linked to the MV Hondius cruise ship. The UK Public Health Rapid Support Team (UK-PHRST), funded with UK aid by the Department of Health and Social Care, has been deployed to the island. 
• Other blogs: We have two other blogs available. The first provides an information about the hantavirus outbreak linked to the Dutch cruise ship and the second provides an wider overview of hantavirus. 

The first Heat Health Alert (HHA) of the season has been issued today, with the East Midlands, West Midlands, East of England, London & South East placed under a yellow alert from Friday 22nd May 9am until Wednesday 27 May 5pm. 

The core alerting system will start on Monday 1 June, but this heat health alert has been issued outside of the core system due to unseasonably high temperatures. 

Individuals and organisations that wish to receive the impact based HHA must register to receive the alerts where users will be able to specify which regions they wish to receive alerts for. The alert status is also publicly available on the UKHSA Data Dashboard.

To support stakeholders with their hot weather communications this year, we have updated our communications toolkit for 2026. The material in this toolkit is intended to provide basic health information that can be communicated during hot spells so that the right messages reach the right people at the right time. This year we have included some new messaging on staying safe from direct sun.

The toolkit supports UKHSA’s Adverse Weather and Health Plan (AWHP) and Weather-Health Alerting (WHA) system, which issues HHAs. 

If you are unable to access the toolkit, please email externalaffairs@ukhsa.gov.uk and we can send across a hard copy. Please do not publish the toolkit anywhere online to prevent old, outdated versions of the toolkit circulating.

A new report published by the UKHSA shows that the trend in HIV diagnoses in England have continued to fall, with England meeting the UNAIDS 95-95-95 targets again — with 95% of people living with HIV having been diagnosed, 95% of those diagnosed receiving treatment and 98% of people on treatment having suppressed viral loads, meaning the virus is undetectable in their blood.

Over 1.3 million people were tested for HIV through sexual health services in 2024. However, testing uptake was lowest among Black African heterosexual and bisexual women (78%) and other ethnic minority heterosexuals (79%), compared to over 95% among gay and bisexual men.

UKHSA is reminding the public that condom use, testing and PrEP remain the most effective ways to prevent HIV for sexually active people. HIV tests and PrEP are free and confidential through the NHS and local sexual health services. Condoms can also be accessed free across some parts of the country — you can check availability by searching ‘Find free condom services – NHS'. 

The UKHSA Conference 2026 will take place on Tuesday 22 and Wednesday 23 September at Manchester Central. The conference will bring together partners from across public health, health protection and the wider health security community to share learning, showcase innovation and strengthen collaboration.

Exhibition stands are now available to purchase, offering a fantastic opportunity to showcase your organisation to delegates from across the health security community. Sponsorship packages are also available for organisations looking to raise their profile and support this flagship event. To find out more about exhibition and sponsorship opportunities, check out our Sponsorship and Exhibition Brochure.

For more information, or if you’d like to arrange a call, email us at conference@ukhsa.gov.uk

The latest measles case data* (published 30 April) shows that activity has increased since January 2026, mostly driven by outbreaks in North London and Birmingham.

Between 1 January 2026 and 27 April 2026, there have been 477 laboratory confirmed measles cases reported in England, an increase of 35 cases since the 20 April 2026. Measles activity increased from January 2026, with the highest number of cases concentrated in North London and Birmingham.

Measles is a nasty illness for any child, but for some it can lead to serious long term complications and tragically death, but is so easily preventable through vaccination. 

Having two doses of the measles, mumps, rubella and varicella (MMRV) vaccine gives children the vital protection they need against this highly contagious disease. It also helps protect more vulnerable children around them who are too young or unable to have the vaccine due a weakened immune system.

Older children and adults who missed out on their vaccine when they were younger can catch up at any age with the measles, mumps and rubella (MMR) vaccine.  

*Measles case data is currently published fortnightly during April 2026. The next update will be published tomorrow, 14 May 2026.

We have a series of resources available to help stakeholders communicate on measles and the vaccines that can prevent it:

• We have a measles communications toolkit on our Google Drive to help support colleagues who are managing outbreaks in their communities. This has been updated this week with further social media assets to help raise awareness of measles, its signs and symptoms, and the MMRV/MMR vaccine. These can be found on p13-14 of the toolkit.
• UKHSA and NHSE stakeholder communications toolkit on the Campaign Resource Centre (CRC): resources to help communicate the MMRV vaccine 

We are seeking feedback from stakeholders who helped promote the childhood immunisations campaign, which was ran by the Department of Health and Social Care, UKHSA and NHS England, in February 2026. 

We are also interested in hearing from those who used materials outside of the main campaign, such as the childhood vaccines postcard, the illustrative vaccines creative and the MMRV communications toolkit.

Your feedback is crucial in shaping our future campaign strategies and communications approaches. Please fill out the feedback form by Thursday 11 June 2026. Please share with any other colleagues who might be interested in providing insight. 

If you have any questions or would like to get in touch with us directly, please email externalaffairs@ukhsa.gov.uk.