A pupil at a north Belfast primary school where parents were informed of a severe case of the bacterial infection Strep A has died, it has been reported.
Family doctors, NHS 111 and hospital A&E departments warn they could be overwhelmed by panicked parents worried their child may be coming down with a Strep A infection.
A heartbroken father said that he brought his five-year-old daughter Stella-Lily McCorkindale who died from Strep A to hospital three times in three days.
A British vaccine expert has said the world desperately needs a jab that can beat Strep A as reports emerge that the normally mild bacterial infection has killed a ninth child.