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.

Between 26 March and 8 October 2026, PHS are reducing the frequency of the Viral respiratory diseases in Scotland narrative report to four-weekly. PHS will move to weekly dashboard only updates for respiratory infection surveillance until 23 April 2026. Both the Viral respiratory diseases in Scotland narrative report and COVID-19 & respiratory surveillance in Scotland interactive dashboard will then move to four-weekly reporting until 8 October 2026.

This approach aligns to the pre-pandemic one for respiratory pathogens, which typically follow a seasonal pattern. PHS will continue to monitor COVID-19 and other respiratory infection levels and reinstate the weekly narrative report before 8 October 2026 if necessary.

Main points

For the period, 9 March to 15 March 2026 (ISO week 11): 

• All syndromic respiratory disease indicators remained at baseline activity.
• Laboratory-confirmed influenza activity remained at baseline, although test positivity increased slightly in both CARI primary care and laboratory surveillance systems. In CARI, influenza B test positivity decreased in week 11 (from 1.4% to 0%). Hospital admissions due to influenza increased from 26 to 31 in week 11, five of which were due to influenza B.
• Overall RSV activity remained at baseline levels. Test positivity decreased slightly in both laboratory and CARI surveillance. Hospital admissions decreased from 47 in week 10 to 32 in week 11.
• COVID-19 laboratory activity remained at baseline overall and across all age groups, except in the 1-4 age group which decreased from medium to baseline. Hospitalisations continued to decline with the highest proportion seen in the 75+ age group (25%). BA.3.2 remains the predominant variant detected through SARS-CoV-2 sequencing, accounting for 64.7% (11 out of 17 sequences) in the most recent complete week of genomic data (week 8).
• Human metapneumovirus (hMPV) activity decreased in laboratory surveillance, as did weekly test positivity for hMPV in CARI. Parainfluenza test positivity increased in CARI surveillance.
• All-cause excess mortality remained at baseline activity overall in week 8, the latest week not impacted by reporting delays.

Further information

The next narrative report will be 26 March 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