Latest weekly winter virus surveillance data
What was announced
Report monitoring respiratory viruses for the 2026/27 season.
Key points, in the publisher's words
- This weekly bulletin brings together the latest surveillance data, along with the latest public health advice for flu, COVID-19, Respiratory Syncytial Virus ( RSV ) and other viruses.
- Dr Jamie LopezBernal, Consultant Epidemiologist at UKHSA, said:
- Our surveillance for the past week shows flu continues to remain at low levels and the early rise we saw in previous weeks has slowed and COVID-19 also remains at low levels, but we’ll be closely tracking all the major respiratory viruses right through the winter, so we can spot trends early and keep the public informed.
Figures in this announcement
Each line is quoted from the original. Figures are as the publisher stated them on the day.
- “Overall, norovirus laboratory reports between weeks 41 and 42 of 2026 (5 October 2026 to 18 October 2026) were 32.6% lower than the 5-season average for the same 2-week period.”
- “Rotavirus activity between weeks 41 and 42 of 2026 was 9.8% higher than the 5-season average for the same 2-week period.”
- “The number of norovirus outbreaks reported to the Hospital Norovirus Outbreak Reporting System ( HNORS ) since the start of the 2025/2026 season is 42.0% lower than the 5-season average.”
- “During the 2025/2026 season to date, the majority (87.8%) of samples characterised were norovirus genogroup 2 (GII), of which the most frequent genotypes identified were GII.4[P16] (25.0%) and GII.9[P7] (22.3%).”
- “Overall, norovirus laboratory reports between weeks 40 and 41 of 2026 (28 September 2026 to 11 October 2026) were 18.6% lower than the 5-season average for the same 2-week period.”
- “Rotavirus activity between weeks 40 and 41 of 2026 was 19.7% higher than the 5-season average for the same 2-week period and has remained within expected levels.”
Who and where
UK bodies of power
- UK Health Security Agency (executive agency) · more news
Where this sits in the 10 levels of power
Topics, as GOV.UK files them: Health surveillance and reporting programmes.
Receipt
- Original: https://www.gov.uk/government/news/latest-ukhsa-weekly-winter-virus-surveillance-data
- Published 2026-10-22 13:00:02 UTC (first published 2026-10-08)
- Read by this site 2026-10-23 19:45:14 UTC from GOV.UK
- Saved copy: receipt 747, with its SHA-256 fingerprint
Contains public sector information licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0.
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