Official Statistics

Changes to reporting over the summer period 2024 (starting from the week 23 report)

Updated 20 June 2024

Applies to England

Starting from the week 23 report (covering data up to week 22), this surveillance report will be moving to a scaled-back summer report and released once every 2 weeks. We informed users of this in the week 21 report.

This change reflects the fact that there is typically lower respiratory virus activity in the summer period. This means that detailed disaggregation by population subgroups may not be possible, and some data collections are paused or scaled down to reduce the burden on contributors. This follows the reporting pattern of the National Influenza Report prior to the COVID-19 pandemic period.

Summary of changes to the main report by section

Laboratory surveillance

Respiratory DataMart system (England)

Kept:

• Figure 1a. Respiratory DataMart weekly positivity (%) for influenza, SARS-CoV-2, RSV and rhinovirus, England
• Figure 1b. Respiratory DataMart weekly positivity (%) for adenovirus, hMPV and parainfluenza, England

Removed:

• Figure 2. Respiratory DataMart weekly positivity (%) for influenza by year, England
• Figure 3. Respiratory DataMart samples positive for influenza by type and subtype, England
• Figure 4. Respiratory DataMart weekly positivity (%) for influenza by age, England
• Figure 5. Respiratory DataMart weekly positivity (%) for SARS-CoV-2 by year, England
• Figure 6. Respiratory DataMart weekly positivity (%) for SARS-CoV-2 by age, England
• Figure 7. Respiratory DataMart weekly positivity (%) for respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) by year, England
• Figure 8. Respiratory DataMart weekly positivity (%) for RSV by age, England

Confirmed COVID-19 cases (England)

This section has been removed.

Microbiological surveillance

SARS-CoV-2 variants

This section has been removed.

Influenza virus characterisation

This section has been removed.

Influenza antiviral susceptibility

This section has been removed.

Community surveillance

SIREN healthcare cohort study

This section has been removed.

Acute respiratory infection incidents

This section has been removed.

FluSurvey

This section has been removed.

Google search queries

This section has been removed.

Flu Detector

This section will now consist of a link to a separate website.

Syndromic surveillance

This section will now consist of a link to a separate website.

Primary care surveillance

RCGP Clinical Indicators (England)

This section has been removed.

RCGP sentinel swabbing scheme in England

Kept:

• Figure 23. Number of samples tested for SARS-CoV-2, influenza, and other respiratory viruses in England by week, GP sentinel swabbing

Removed:

• Figure 24. Proportion of detections of SARS-CoV-2, influenza, and other respiratory viral strains among virologically positive respiratory surveillance samples in England by week, GP sentinel swabbing scheme
• Figure 25. Weekly positivity (%) for COVID-19, influenza and RSV in England, GP sentinel swabbing

Secondary care surveillance

Influenza, SARI Watch

This section has been removed.

COVID-19, SARI Watch

Kept:

• Figure 34a. Weekly overall COVID-19 hospital admission rates per 100,000 trust catchment population, reported through SARI Watch mandatory surveillance, England
• Figure 37. Weekly overall COVID-19 intensive care unit (ICU) or high dependency unit (HDU) admission rates per 100,000 trust catchment population, reported through SARI Watch mandatory surveillance, England

Removed:

• Figure 34b. Weekly percentage of hospitalisations with COVID-19 as primary reason, reported through SARI Watch sentinel surveillance, England
• Figure 35. Weekly hospital admission rate by UKHSA region for new COVID-19 positive cases, reported through SARI Watch mandatory surveillance
• Figure 36a. Weekly hospital admission rate by age group for new COVID-19 positive cases reported through SARI Watch mandatory surveillance – fixed y-axis
• Figure 36b. Weekly hospital admission rate by age group for new COVID-19 positive cases reported through SARI Watch mandatory surveillance – adjusted y-axis
• Figure 38. Weekly ICU or HDU admission rate by UKHSA region for new COVID-19 positive cases reported through SARI Watch mandatory surveillance
• Figure 39a. Weekly ICU or HDU admission rate by age group for new COVID-19 positive cases reported through SARI Watch mandatory surveillance – fixed y-axis
• Figure 39b. Weekly ICU or HDU admission rate by age group for new COVID-19 positive cases reported through SARI Watch mandatory surveillance – adjusted y-axis

ECMO, SARI Watch

Only the text is kept.

Removed:

• Figure 40. Laboratory confirmed ECMO admissions in adults (COVID-19, influenza and non-COVID-19 confirmed) to severe respiratory failure centres in the UK

RSV admissions, SARI Watch

This section has been removed.

COVID-19 vaccination

COVID-19 vaccine uptake in England

Kept:

• Figure 41. Cumulative weekly COVID-19 vaccine uptake in those who are living and resident in England vaccinated with a spring 2024 dose since 15 April 2024 by age group

Mortality surveillance

This section has been removed.

International update

Global COVID-19 update

This section has been kept.

Global influenza update

This section has been kept.

Other respiratory viruses

This section has been kept.

Additional surveillance sources

This section has been added.

Slides

Respiratory DataMart system (England)

Kept:

• Respiratory DataMart – Influenza subtypes
• Respiratory DataMart – influenza weekly positivity by UKHSA super region
• Respiratory DataMart – Respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) weekly positivity by UKHSA region

Added:

• Respiratory DataMart weekly positivity (%) for influenza by age, England
• Respiratory DataMart – samples positive for influenza by type and subtype
• Respiratory DataMart weekly positivity (%) for SARS-CoV-2 by UKHSA super region, England

Confirmed COVID-19 cases (England)

This section has been removed.

Acute respiratory infection incidents

This section has been removed.

Second generation surveillance system (SGSS)

This section has been removed.

Community surveillance

This section has been removed.

Primary care surveillance

This section has been removed.

Secondary care surveillance

This section has been removed.

COVID-19 vaccine uptake

Kept:

• Provisional cumulative uptake by ethnicity in people aged 75 and over vaccinated with a dose of COVID-19 vaccine from 15 April 2024 as part of the spring 2024 campaign in England

Co/secondary infections with COVID 19

This section has been removed.