PARENTS are being warned to keep an eye out for scarlet fever after 66 cases were reported in Oxfordshire this month.

The number of cases is up from 22 in February and 11 in January, according to Public Health England.

Advice has been sent out to schools in the county from Public Health England about the condition including Didcot Girls’ School where one case has been reported.

But parents are being told not to worry. A Public Health England spokesman said: “Scarlet fever is not unusual. The information is being sent out to avoid people panicking.”

It is mainly a childhood disease. affecting two to eight-year-olds.

Symptoms include a sore throat, fever, and fine raised rash.

A round of antibiotics can treat the condition.