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, 23 February to 1 March 2026 (ISO week 9):

• Syndromic respiratory disease indicators remained at baseline activity.  
• Laboratory-confirmed influenza cases remained at baseline activity overall in week 9, with a decrease in overall case numbers and test positivity. There is no evidence of increases in Influenza B, which has been observed at this point of the year in previous winter seasons. Hospital admissions due to influenza decreased, with individuals aged 65-74 accounting for the highest proportion of cases, at 43.2%.  
• Overall RSV activity decreased, returning to baseline levels. Test positivity continued to decrease in both laboratory and CARI primary care surveillance, and hospital admissions decreased from 79 to 56.  
• COVID-19 laboratory activity remained baseline overall and decreased from high to medium in the 1-4 age group, the only group reporting activity above baseline. Hospitalisations declined for the third consecutive week, with children under 5 years accounting for around a third of these. BA.3.2 remains the predominant variant detected through SARS-CoV-2 sequencing, accounting for 73.5% in the most recent complete week of genomic data (week 6). 
• Laboratory activity for adenovirus increased to medium, also showing an increasing trend through CARI surveillance. Seasonal coronaviruses and human metapneumovirus (hMPV) also reported at medium activity through laboratory surveillance.  
• All-cause excess mortality remained at baseline activity overall in week 6, the latest week not impacted by reporting delays. Activity increased to medium in the 0-4 age group, though examination of the cause of death does not show an association with respiratory causes.  

Further information

The next narrative report will be 12 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