Girl, 5, is ninth Strep A death as Belfast primary school pupil dies days after falling ill as schools begin to close

A FIVE-year-old girl has become the ninth child to die after contracting Strep A.

The youngster fell severely ill last week and was treated in hospital but sadly passed away yesterday, the BBC reports.

She attended Black Mountain Primary School in Belfast.

Her death takes the number of children known to have died from the illness – which usually only causes a mild sore throat and temperature but can be life-threatening – to nine.

These include Muhammed Ibrahim Ali, four, from High Wycombe, Buckinghamshire, and seven-year-old Hanna Roap, from Penarth, Vale of Glamorgan.

Lockdowns during the pandemic, when kids were trapped indoors, are being blamed for the outbreak.

As cases of scarlet fever and Strep A sweep across the UK, several primary schools have made the decision to close.

St Vincent’s Voluntary Catholic Academy in Hull shut for a “deep clean” on Friday after a small number of children came down with a bug.

Parents at the school gates on Monday were in agreement that it was the right precaution to take.

The UK Health Security Agency said the last time there was an intensive period of Strep A infection was in 2017-18 when four deaths were recorded in England in the equivalent time frame.