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 6 January to 12 January (ISO week 2): 

• Attendances to GP practices for influenza-like illness and acute respiratory infections increased in week 2. However, the proportion of NHS24 calls related to respiratory symptoms decreased in week 2. These trends may still be impacted by service availability during and following the festive period.
• Influenza-related hospital admissions in Scotland decreased by 46.6% from 1,077 in week 1 to 575 in week 2. Laboratory-confirmed influenza case numbers have declined for a second week, by 40.6% from 1906 in week 1 to 1,133 in week 2. The incident rate is still higher than most of the previous 14 seasons, and comparable to the same week in 2017/2018.
• RSV is declining across all surveillance systems in the recent week, although laboratory confirmed cases remained higher than expected for this time of year compared to previous seasons. Emergency hospitalisations due to RSV decreased by 41.3%, from 201 in week 1 to 118 in week 2.
• COVID-19 signals remain low across all surveillance systems.
• All-cause excess mortality for week 51 (the latest week not impacted by reporting delays) increased overall, with more recent weeks showing an excess in the 15-64 and 65 and above age groups, possibly due to higher rates of influenza, cold weather and other non-respiratory-related causes.
• Since the start of the winter 2024/25 vaccination programme in Scotland, uptake was highest in older care home residents (influenza: 83.9%; COVID-19: 81.9%), and among adults aged 75 years and older (influenza: 79.8%; and COVID-19: 76.1%). Around two thirds of those at-risk for influenza and three quarters of those at-risk for COVID-19 have not yet been vaccinated. Vaccine uptake is lower for both influenza and COVID-19 for all eligible groups when compared to the corresponding calendar week last year.

Further information

The next release will be 23 January 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