HPS Weekly National Seasonal Respiratory Report - week ending 20 October 2019

​​For the 2019 to 2020 season, the format of the HPS National Seasonal Respiratory Report has changed to that of an Official Statistics publication (Experimental).

Overall assessment:

• Influenza activity was at Baseline levels in the community and in closed settings.

In week 42:

• The rate of influenza-like illness (ILI) was at Baseline activity level (4.4 per 100,000).
• The proportion of NHS24 respiratory calls was at Low activity level (17.2%).
• The swab positivity in primary care was at Baseline activity level (15.0%, 3/20).
• The swab positivity in secondary care was at Baseline activity level (2.8%, 17/598).
• Mycoplasma pneumoniae, Parainfluenza virus and Rhinovirus were at Low activity level. The rest of the non-flu respiratory pathogens were at Baseline activity levels. The number of RSV detections seem to be increasing in line with the seasonal RSV wave.
• There were 2 new acute respiratory illness outbreaks reported (Baseline activity level).
• There were no cases reported of laboratory confirmed influenza with severe acute respiratory infection (SARI) requiring intensive care management (Baseline activity level).
• There were no SARI deaths reported.
• The all-cause mortality excess was at Baseline activity level in week 40 (z-score < 2).