Viral respiratory diseases in Scotland surveillance report

About this release

As part of Public Health Scotland’s commitment to providing clear, concise and accessible viral respiratory data, there have been some improvements to the presentation this season’s viral respiratory report. These have included updates to the accessibility of figures presented in the report and a change in the title of the report from Viral respiratory diseases (including influenza and COVID-19) in Scotland surveillance report to Viral respiratory diseases in Scotland surveillance report.

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

For the period, 16 February to 22 February 2026 (ISO week 8):

• The proportion of NHS24 calls due to respiratory symptoms, GP consultations for influenza-like illness (ILI), and consultations for acute respiratory infections (ARI) remained at baseline activity level in week 8 overall and for all age groups.
• Laboratory-confirmed influenza cases remained at baseline activity overall in week 8, with a slight increase in overall test positivity. Hospital admissions due to influenza decreased, with individuals aged 75 years continuing to account for the highest proportion of cases, at 39.6%.
• RSV laboratory‑confirmed cases continued to decrease in week 8, remaining at a low activity level overall. Test positivity decreased in both laboratory and GP-based CARI four-weekly average trend surveillance. Hospital admissions due to RSV also decreased from 91 to 68, with the highest proportion reported in the 1-4 age group (33.8%).
• COVID-19 laboratory test positivity decreased from 3.7 to 3.5% in week 8, and activity remained baseline overall. Activity decreased to high in those aged 1-4. Hospitalisations declined for the second consecutive week, with children aged 0–14 years accounting for 40% of COVID-19 admissions. In week 5 (the week with the latest data), BA.3.2 accounted for the majority (66.7%) of detected SARS-CoV-2 sequences.
• Laboratory activity for human metapneumovirus (hMPV) and seasonal coronavirus remained at low and medium respectively. In CARI surveillance, seasonal coronaviruses showed a statistically significant four-week increase. Adenovirus activity decreased to low levels in laboratory surveillance but increased in the CARI four-weekly average trend.
• All-cause excess mortality decreased to baseline activity overall and for all age groups in week 5, the latest week not impacted by reporting delays.

Further information

The next narrative report will be 5 March 2026.

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