Viral respiratory diseases 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.

The Viral respiratory diseases in Scotland narrative report will return to weekly reporting on 8 October 2026. Please note there will be several changes introduced for the 2026/27 season, such as an upgrade of NHS 24 symptom definitions, refinement of the lab-confirmed hospital admissions identification process, and expansion of the number of sites included in syndromic SARI. Some other changes may still require further adjustment and hence these outputs should be considered as Official Statistics in Development. For full details of these changes please see details available in the technical information section of our website.

Main points

For the period 5 October to 11 October 2026 (ISO week 41):

• Syndromic indicators of respiratory infections remain at baseline activity, typical for this time in the season.
• Following an earlier than expected rise in influenza last week, laboratory surveillance has seen decreases in test positivity and incidence rates in week 41 compared with week 40. Test positivity in community acute respiratory infection (CARI) surveillance does show a slight increase in week 41, although activity remains at baseline overall. Activity levels among laboratory confirmed cases remained at low in adults aged 65-74 years but was baseline for all other ages. Hospital admissions for any influenza have also decreased. Adults 65 years and older represent more than half of admissions, as is typical.
• COVID-19 activity levels in laboratory surveillance remain low. There has been a decrease in test positivity between weeks 40 and 41 in the CARI GP community surveillance. Hospital admissions linked to COVID-19 have reduced by almost 20% in week 41, from 104 to 84.
• RSV remains at baseline activity across surveillance systems, comparable to this time last season. Although RSV-associated hospitalisations increased slightly, they remain lower than in any of the previous five seasons.

Further information

The next report will be published on 22 October 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