Father of girl, 4, with strep A ‘praying for a miracle’

Dean Burns, whose daughter, Camila Rose, is being treated in hospital, urges parents to look out for symptoms

• Q&A: what are the symptoms and how can strep A be treated?

The father of a four-year-old girl who is in critical care with strep A has said he is praying for a miracle" and urged other parents to look out for symptoms.

The UK Health Security Agency has said cases of the most serious kind of infection, called invasive group A strep (iGAS), are unusually high for this time of year, and believe the increase in cases may be linked to more social mixing after the ending of Covid restrictions.