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.

Due to the festive period, there will be no report or dashboard published on 26 December 2024 or 2 January 2025. The next release will be on 9 January 2025.

Main Points

Overall assessment 9 December to 15 December (ISO week 50): 

• Attendances to GP practices for influenza-like illness and acute respiratory infections increased steeply this week, although they remain at levels not unusual for this time in the season.
• Influenza-related emergency hospital admissions rose sharply this week, increasing by 82% from 372 to 677. Influenza now accounts for 67% of all admissions due to influenza, RSV or COVID-19. Indicators of influenza circulation also continued to rise sharply, with elevated rates across all surveillance systems compared to many previous years. For the fourth consecutive week, laboratory-confirmed influenza case numbers have nearly doubled, rising to 1,483 in week 50 compared to 842 last week and 437 the week before. Test positivity for influenza A has increased in the community (CARI) surveillance system to 35.3% (26.4% last week), with a proportional increase in adult age groups more so than children.
• Overall RSV activity has remained at its highest levels this season for three of the last four weeks. Some reductions are starting to be seen in admissions to hospital and among the younger age groups, although caution is warranted until sustained reductions are seen over the coming weeks. RSV test positivity in the CARI system remains high but stable.
• Signals of COVID-19 transmission are low across all surveillance systems.
• Since the start of the winter 2024/25 vaccination programme in Scotland, uptake was highest in older care home residents (influenza: 82.0%; COVID-19: 80.2%), and among adults aged 75 years and older (influenza: 78.2%; and COVID-19: 74.8%). Over two thirds of those at-risk for influenza and over three quarters of those at-risk for COVID-19 have not yet been vaccinated. Vaccine uptake is lower for influenza and COVID-19, for all eligible groups, when compared to the corresponding week in last year’s programme.

Further information

The next release will be 9 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