GP practices and emergency departments told to have a low threshold when deciding whether to prescribe antibiotics to children with Strep A symptoms.
This comes as reports emerged today of a ninth child dying from a Strep A infection in the UK.
The UKHSA reported a significant increase in cases of scarlet fever as they continue to remain higher than typically seen at this time of year.
There were 851 cases reported in week 46, a 665 case increase compared to previous years.
Dr Colin Brown, deputy director UKHSA said: 'It is important that parents are on the lookout for symptoms and see a doctor as quickly as possible so that their child can be treated and we can stop the infection becoming serious.'
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Invasive Group A strep (iGAS) has also seen an increase in cases this year, particularly in children under 10.
In children aged 1 to 4 there was an average of 2.3 cases per 100,000 children compared to 0.5 cases between 2017 to 2019.
Schools minister Nick Gibb, told GB News that preventative antibiotics could be given to children in schools where there are transmissions of Strep A infections.
The UKHSA believe the increase of infections is related to high amounts of circulating bacteria and social mixing.
Dr Susan Hopkins on the BBC Radio 4’s Today programme, discussed this saying: 'We also need to recognise that the measures that we’ve taken for the last couple of years to reduce Covid circulating will also reduce other infections circulating. And so that means that, as things get back to normal, these traditional infections that we’ve seen for many years are circulating at great levels.'
She added that the idea of lower immunity levels being caused by Covid measures was an area being explored.