All regions of England have been at Cold Weather Alert Level 1 ‘winter preparedness and action’ since 1 November 2013. Indicators of influenza activity are at low levels of intensity with evidence of sporadic detections of influenza. Respiratory syncytial virus ( RSV ) is continuing to circulate. Syndromic Surveillance indicates there have been further national increases in bronchitis and bronchiolitis in infants. This is consistent with increasing RSV activity. Outbreaks of diarrhoea and vomiting in hospitals are continuing to be reported. However, norovirus activity is low. The number of laboratory reports of norovirus in the current week has increased but is lower than the 5 year seasonal average (covering winter seasons from 2007 to 2012). Rotavirus activity is low, laboratory reports are at the expected level for the time of year. No significant excess all-cause mortality was reported across the UK in week 50 2013 (9 December to 15 December) and none has been reported since week 40 2013.

Public Health
England

Research and analysis

Winter health watch summary: 19 December 2013

Q: 4. Planning resources

Cold weather plan 2013 Flu plan: Winter 2013 to 2014 by DH , NHS England and PHE

Published 19 December 2013

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-19-december-2013/winter-health-watch-summary-19-december-2013

1. Summary

All regions of England have been at Cold Weather Alert Level 1 ‘winter preparedness and action’ since 1 November 2013.
Indicators of influenza activity are at low levels of intensity with evidence of sporadic detections of influenza. Respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) is continuing to circulate.
Syndromic Surveillance indicates there have been further national increases in bronchitis and bronchiolitis in infants. This is consistent with increasing RSV activity.
Outbreaks of diarrhoea and vomiting in hospitals are continuing to be reported. However, norovirus activity is low. The number of laboratory reports of norovirus in the current week has increased but is lower than the 5 year seasonal average (covering winter seasons from 2007 to 2012).
Rotavirus activity is low, laboratory reports are at the expected level for the time of year.
No significant excess all-cause mortality was reported across the UK in week 50 2013 (9 December to 15 December) and none has been reported since week 40 2013.