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, 24 November 2025 to 30 November 2025 (ISO week 48):

• GP consultations for influenza-like illness (ILI) and acute respiratory infections (ARI) have increased overall, with ILI consultations breaching the medium threshold three weeks earlier than last season. ILI activity increased in all groups, but to a higher intensity in the 1-4 and 5-14 age groups.
• Influenza activity in Scotland continued to increase sharply in week 48, reaching medium activity levels approximately two weeks earlier than in previous seasons. Laboratory-confirmed cases more than doubled, rising from 845 to 1,759, and hospital admissions due to influenza increased by 70%, from 426 to 724.
• Although the highest case rates were observed in younger age groups, approximately 40% of hospital admissions were people aged 65 years and over, broadly consistent with previous seasons. Nearly all subtyped samples (96.7%) were influenza A(H3N2).
• Laboratory-confirmed RSV activity remained at low levels for a fourth week, despite a 52% increase in cases in week 48, from 195 to 297. Rates are rising across all age groups and remain highest among children under 5 years of age. Hospital admissions due to RSV also increased over the same period, from 153 to 209. Cases and admissions remain lower than in previous recent seasons.
• COVID-19 generally remained stable across systems in week 48, although activity in the 1-4 age group increased from baseline to medium.
• Among other respiratory pathogens, reported activity levels of laboratory-confirmed cases remained above baseline for adenovirus, parainfluenza and rhinovirus.

Further information

The next release will be on 11 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