Winter health watch summary: 6 November 2014

Published 26 March 2015

This publication is licensed under the terms of the Open Government Licence v3.0 except where otherwise stated. To view this licence, visit nationalarchives.gov.uk/doc/open-government-licence/version/3 or write to the Information Policy Team, The National Archives, Kew, London TW9 4DU, or email: psi@nationalarchives.gov.uk.

Where we have identified any third party copyright information you will need to obtain permission from the copyright holders concerned.

This publication is available at https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/winter-health-watch-summary-26-march-2015/winter-health-watch-summary-6-november-2014

1. Summary

All regions of England have been at Cold Weather Alert Level 1 ‘winter preparedness and action’ since 1 November 2014.

Influenza activity is at low levels in week 44 2014 (ending 2 November), however respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) continues to circulate, predominantly in under 5 year olds.

Syndromic surveillance report emergency department attendances and GP out of hours consultations for bronchitis and bronchiolitis and NHS 111 cough calls, particularly in the under 1 years age group, increased during week 44 in line with increased laboratory reporting of respiratory syncytial virus (RSV).

The number of laboratory reports of norovirus in the season to date overall is higher than the 5 year seasonal average (from season 2009 and 2010 to season 2013 and 2014). However, the number of laboratory reports in the last 3 weeks is similar to the average. Reports of outbreaks of diarrhoea and vomiting in hospitals continue to be reported at similar levels to previous years.

Rotavirus activity is low; laboratory reports are slightly lower than the 10 season average (from season 2003 to 2004 to season 2012 to 2013). The decreased rotavirus activity is likely to be associated with the introduction of the oral vaccine in July 2013.

In week 44 2014, no excess all-cause mortality by week of death was seen across the UK through the EuroMOMO algorithm.