Viral respiratory diseases in Scotland surveillance report

About this release

As part of Public Health Scotland’s commitment to providing clear, concise and accessible viral respiratory data, there have been some improvements to the presentation this season’s viral respiratory report. These have included updates to the accessibility of figures presented in the report and a change in the title of the report from Viral respiratory diseases (including influenza and COVID-19) in Scotland surveillance report to Viral respiratory diseases in Scotland surveillance report.

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

For the period, 1 December 2025 to 7 December 2025 (ISO week 49):

• NHS24 calls relating to respiratory symptoms are at low level overall. GP consultations for influenza-like illness (ILI) remain at medium level overall and increased to low for acute respiratory infection (ARI), whilst both report highest activity in the 5-14 age group.
• Influenza activity in Scotland increased at a more moderate pace in week 49, although the high activity threshold has now been reached, earlier than previous seasons. Case numbers increased by 24% to 2331 from 1875 and there were 986 hospital admissions in week 49, up by 15% from 860; both measures have increased at slower rates than the previous week and there is, as yet, no evidence of more severe disease as measured by ICU/HDU admissions. Influenza A(H3N2) continues to dominate.
• New, early seasonal influenza vaccine effectiveness data show that despite concerns about the impact of a new influenza A(H3N2) drifted clade in the UK, the vaccine is providing good protection against influenza A hospitalisations in Scotland, with a 78% reduced risk of hospitalisation in ages 2–17 and 37% in those 65 and over. Similar results were observed in pooled estimates from Scotland, Northern Ireland and Wales, and with early season estimates produced in England.
• Laboratory-confirmed RSV cases increased to 377, from 326. Hospital admissions due to RSV stayed stable at 250 (from 249 in week 48). Admissions remain lower than recent seasons.
• COVID-19 measures remained stable although medium activity was reported for lab-confirmed cases in the 1-4 age group for a second week.
• For other respiratory pathogens, activity levels of laboratory-confirmed cases increased to low for seasonal coronavirus and remained above baseline for parainfluenza and rhinovirus.

Further information

The next release will be on 18 December 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