A 17-year-old boy from the Whitfield area of Dover has died from meningitis. The boy was admitted to hospital in a serious condition with the meningitis C strain at the weekend but has subsequently died.

The teenager has not been named. Dr Mathi Chandrakumar, the East Kent consultant for communicable diseases, said all the boy’s close contacts had been given preventative antibiotics.

He added: "Cases of meningitis are often reported to us, but fortunately not many of them prove fatal."