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 16 December to 5 January (ISO week 51-1): 

• Attendances to GP practices for influenza-like illness and acute respiratory infections continued to increase into week 51, declined when GP practice hours were reduced over the festive period, and increased again in week 1.
• Influenza-related hospital admissions in Scotland, which reached a record high of 1,596 in week 52, have decreased by 36% to 1,021 in week 1. Similar sharp declines in laboratory-confirmed influenza case numbers were observed following the week 52 peak. Caution is required when interpreting trends over the holiday season, although test positivity for influenza A in CARI community surveillance has also declined, from 50.8% in week 52 to 38.9% in week 1. Although CARI samples received are reduced due to festive closures, test positivity is not impacted by this reduction.
• Although RSV laboratory confirmed cases remained higher than expected in weeks 51 and 52, all surveillance systems are now showing declines in RSV in the recent week. Emergency hospitalisations due to RSV decreased by 32%, from 265 in week 52 to 181 in week 1.
• COVID-19 signals remain 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: 83.4%; COVID-19: 81.5%), and among adults aged 75 years and older (influenza: 79.5%; and COVID-19: 75.9%). 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 16 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