Viral respiratory diseases (including influenza and COVID-19) in Scotland surveillance report

About this release

This weekly release by Public Health Scotland presents epidemiological information on respiratory infection activity, including COVID-19, across Scotland. Due to the dynamic nature of all datasets included in this report, figures contained within each update may be subject to change in future releases. Any revised figures will then be reflected within the latest update.

Main Points

Overall assessment 10 February 2025 to 16 February 2025 (ISO week 7): 

• In the community, syndromic surveillance signals relating to infectious respiratory symptoms continued to decrease overall in week 7 and are at levels comparable with previous years. NHS24 calls are at baseline activity level. GP consultations for influenza-like illness (ILI) are at low levels, and for other acute respiratory infections (ARI) are at baseline activity.
• Laboratory-confirmed influenza case numbers continue to decline overall, from a peak of 2,953 in week 52 to 335 in week 7, with the current incidence rate at moderate activity level. Influenza B continues to increase as a proportion of total influenza cases, although has decreased in absolute number of cases in week 7 at 142 (42% of total influenza cases) compared to 167 (40% of total influenza cases) in week 6. In the community (CARI surveillance), test positivity for influenza B increased to 16.3% in week 7 compared to 13.8% in week 6, Overall influenza-related hospital admissions in Scotland decreased by 12.5% to 147 in week 7 (from 188 in week 6). Of these, 37% are influenza B admissions (55 cases).
• All-cause excess mortality for week 4 (the latest week not impacted by reporting delays) remained at baseline activity level overall and in all age groups.
• RSV continues to decline across all surveillance systems in week 7, although emergency hospitalisations remained stable, at 60 compared with 59 in the previous week.
• COVID-19 signals remain low across all surveillance systems.

Further information

The next release will be 20 February 2025.

Find out more

Previous Publications

Versions of the Weekly national respiratory report publication released before 30 November 2022 may be found on the Public Health Scotland website.

Versions of the COVID-19 weekly statistical report publication released before 30 November 2022 may be found on the Public Health Scotland website.

Open data

Open data from this publication is available from the following weblinks:

• Viral respiratory diseases Open Data platform
• Flu and COVID vaccination uptake Open Data platform

Further data

• The COVID-19 Vaccine Wastage datafile was updated on 18 April 2024 to include the most recent information.
• The COVID-19 in Adult Care Homes in Scotland datafile was updated on 27 July 2023 to include more recent information.
• 28 September 2022 COVID-19 statistical report publication contains information on COVID-19 infection and vaccination in pregnancy in Scotland.
• 2 March 2022 COVID-19 statistical report publication contains information on Highest Risk (shielding patients list)
• 7 November 2023 Community Acute Respiratory Infection (CARI) surveillance in primary care contains information on flu Vaccine effectiveness in community settings.
• 25 May 2023 Interim 2022/23 influenza vaccine effectiveness: six European studies, October 2022 to January 2023, contains information on flu Vaccine effectiveness in hospital settings.
• 13 January 2024 Estimated number of lives directly saved by COVID-19 vaccination programs in the WHO European Region, December 2020 to March 2023, contains information on lives saved due to COVID-19 vaccination