The number of confirmed meningitis cases linked to the Kent outbreak has fallen from 23 to 20.
The UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) said on Sunday that three cases previously thought confirmed had been downgraded after further testing.
In an update on the UKHSA website, the government body said that the number of suspected cases under investigation had also fallen, from 11 to nine, putting the total number of cases at 29, down from 34 reported on Saturday.
It added that more cases would likely be downgraded in the coming days with the completion of further lab tests.
Nineteen of the 20 confirmed cases are meningitis B, known as MenB, and all have required hospital admission.
Graph showing confirmed and probable cases for past five days
As the campaign to vaccinate thousands of young people in Kent continued into a fourth day, dozens of those eligible again queued up around the county for the vaccine or preventive antibiotics.
The length of the lines has dropped considerably since the rollout began on Wednesday, with no queue at all outside the previously busy vaccination site on the University of Kent’s Canterbury campus at 10am on Sunday.
NHS Kent and Medway said more than 8,000 MenB vaccines and 12,157 antibiotics had been handed out by 6pm on Saturday. There are six clinics providing antibiotics and vaccines across the county, while eligible University of Kent students who have returned home elsewhere can access both from their local GPs.
Two students have died in the outbreak. They are 18-year-old Juliette Kenny, a sixth-former who was described by her family as “fit, healthy and strong”, and a University of Kent student who has not been publicly named.
Dr Sherine Thomas, an infectious diseases consultant at UKHSA, said: “We continue to remain vigilant for new cases and work closely with NHS England and local authorities across the country to ensure that any new cases identified are responded to as quickly as possible.
“It’s reassuring to have seen so many eligible young people come forward for antibiotics and vaccination, and we’d like to thank everyone involved in this effort so far.
“Although the risk to the wider population remains low, it is still really important that people know the symptoms of invasive meningococcal disease and seek immediate medical attention if they or anyone they know develops them. UKHSA continues to work with partners to identify contacts and offer necessary treatment.”
An NHS Kent and Medway spokesperson said: “Our teams have been working overtime this weekend and into the evenings during the week to deliver antibiotic and vaccine clinics as fast as possible.”
Staff at the University of Kent’s Canterbury campus clinic said on Saturday that the vaccine rollout had become a “slick operation”, as queues and waiting times were now significantly shorter than during the week.
Kent County Council’s director of public health, Dr Anjan Ghosh, warned on Friday that “small household, sporadic clusters” could appear in other parts of the UK as students who have travelled away from Kent “incubate” the illness. But he said these would be “containable” and stressed that the risk of infection between individuals remained low.
