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

About this release

REVISION 21 July 2023: The URL to access the Flu and COVID Vaccination Uptake in Scotland Dashboard in the "Further Information" section of the Summary PDF file has been revised. This revision was made as the previous URL was incorrect, this has now been updated. No changes were made to data contained in the dashboard

This is a weekly release by Public Health Scotland (PHS) on epidemiological information on seasonal respiratory infection activity in Scotland including COVID-19.

Since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, health care services have functioned differently now compared to previous respiratory seasons, so the consultation rates are not directly comparable to historical data.

Main points

Overall assessment for the period 19 June 2023 to 16 July 2023 (ISO week 25 to 28):

• Measures of symptoms in the community and via attendances at GP consultations show low levels of respiratory disease activity during the reporting period (NHS24, GP ILI and CARI primary care virology data).
• Virology data suggest influenza circulated at baseline levels during the reporting period. Adenovirus, parainfluenza, and rhinovirus circulated at lower levels this reporting period and were all at Baseline activity level by week 28.
• The overall number of emergency hospital admissions associated with RSV, influenza and SARS-CoV-2 have remained stable during the reporting period. SARS-CoV-2 remains the largest proportion of admissions. ICU/HDU admissions continue to be low.
• All-cause excess mortality remained within seasonal expectations, overall and for all age groups, during the reporting period. Data for the most recent two weeks is still provisional and should be treated with caution.

Background

Between 1 June and 5 October 2023, Public Health Scotland (PHS) will be providing a narrative on 17 August and 14 September 2023, while continuing to update the interactive dashboard, COVID-19 open data platform, and respiratory open data platform on a weekly basis at 9.30am every Thursday. This approach aligns to the pre-pandemic reporting schedule for respiratory pathogens, which typically follow a seasonal pattern with most cases occurring between October and May. PHS will continue to monitor COVID-19 and other respiratory infection levels and reinstate a weekly narrative report before 5 October 2023 if necessary.

Weekly reporting will be reinstated on 5 October 2023. 

Further information

The next release of this publication will be 27 July 2023.

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 14 September 2023 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
• The COVID-19 Vaccine Wastage datafile was updated on 18 April 2024 to include the most recent information.