Update on changes to reporting of COVID-19 statistics

Public Health Scotland (PHS) will move to weekly COVID-19 reporting from Wednesday 08 June 2022.

This follows changes to testing policy in Scotland (external website) that came into effect from 01 May 2022. The reduction in the quantity and quality of available daily data limits the utility of daily reporting. As a result, PHS is moving to weekly COVID-19 reporting, which is more typical for respiratory infection surveillance and more appropriate as Scotland transitions from the emergency response phase of the pandemic to living with endemic COVID-19.

The PHS COVID-19 dashboard will be updated weekly on a Wednesday alongside the PHS Covid-19 weekly statistical report. Both testing and vaccination statistics will continue to be presented – every Wednesday PHS will publish data for each up to the previous Sunday.  Daily trends will also still be provided, but now updated weekly.

PHS will cease reporting of COVID-19 deaths within 28 days of a first positive test, instead signposting to NRS death certificate data (external website) as the single data source for COVID-19 deaths data in Scotland. 

From 8 June 2022, PHS will begin reporting the number of people who have received a fifth dose of COVID-19 vaccination.