Official Statistics

Changes to reporting over the summer period 2023 (starting from the week 23 report)

Updated 25 July 2023

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 two 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, and therefore 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.

We pre-announce all of our reports on the GOV.UK release calendar. Please refer to this for information on when upcoming reports will be published.

1. Detailed summary of changes to the main report

Laboratory surveillance section

Confirmed COVID-19 cases (England)

Kept:

• Figure 1: Confirmed COVID-19 episodes tested under Pillar 1, based on sample day with overall seven-day rolling average PCR positivity for Pillar 1 (%)
  • This remains as Figure 1 in the summer report
• Figure 7: Seven-day rolling average PCR positivity of confirmed COVID-19 cases tested under Pillar 1 (%) by UKHSA centres
  • This is now Figure 3 in the summer report

Updated:

• Figure 5: Seven day rolling average PCR positivity (%) of confirmed COVID-19 cases tested under Pillar 1, (a) by male and age group and (b) by female and age group
  • Updated to “Figure 2: Seven-day rolling average PCR positivity of confirmed COVID-19 cases tested under Pillar 1 (%) by age group”

Removed:

• Figure 2: Weekly confirmed COVID-19 case rates per 100,000, by episode, tested under Pillar 1, by sex
• Figure 3: Weekly confirmed COVID-19 case rates per 100,000, by episode, tested under Pillar 1, by age group
• Figure 8: Weekly rate of COVID-19 episodes per 100,000 population (Pillar 1), by upper-tier local authority (UTLA), England (box shows enlarged map of London area)

Moved to the additional surveillance graphs document:

• Figure 4: Seven-day rolling average PCR positivity (%) of confirmed COVID-19 cases tested overall and by sex under Pillar 1
• Figure 6: Weekly confirmed COVID-19 case rates by episode, per 100,000 population (Pillar 1), by UKHSA centres and sample week
• Figure 9: Weekly incidence per 100,000 population by ethnicity (Pillar 1), England

Respiratory DataMart system (England)

Kept:

• Figure 10: Respiratory DataMart samples positive for influenza and weekly positivity (%) for influenza, England
  • This is now Figure 4 in the summer report

Updated:

• Figure 14: Respiratory DataMart weekly positivity (%) for other viruses, England
  • Weekly positivity for SARS-CoV-2 added. This is now Figure 4 in the summer report

Removed:

• Figure 11: Respiratory DataMart weekly positivity (%) for SARS-CoV-2, England
• Figure 12: Respiratory DataMart weekly positivity (%) for influenza, England
• Figure 15: Respiratory DataMart weekly positivity (%) for adenovirus by age, England
• Figure 16: Respiratory DataMart weekly positivity (%) for hMPV by age, England
• Figure 17: Respiratory DataMart weekly positivity (%) for parainfluenza by age, England
• Figure 18: Respiratory DataMart weekly positivity (%) for rhinovirus by age, England
• Figure 19: Respiratory DataMart weekly positivity (%) for RSV by age, England

Moved to the additional surveillance graphs document:

• Figure 13: Respiratory DataMart weekly positivity (%) for influenza by age, England

Community surveillance section

Acute respiratory infection incidents

Kept:

• Figure 21: Number of acute respiratory infection (ARI) incidents by setting, England
  • This is now Figure 6 in the summer report

New:

• Figure 7: Number of ARI incidents in all settings by virus type, England in the week 23 report

Removed:

• Figure 20: Number of acute respiratory infection (ARI) incidents by setting, UK
• Figure 22: Number of ARI incidents in care homes by virus type, England
• Figure 23: Number of ARI incidents in hospitals by virus type, England
• Figure 24: Number of ARI incidents in educational settings by virus type, England
• Figure 25: Number of ARI incidents in prisons by virus type, England
• Figure 26: Number of ARI incidents in other settings by virus type from, England
• Table 1: Total number of situations and incidents by institution and UKHSA centres over the past 4 weeks with the total number in the last week in brackets

FluSurvey

This section has been removed

Google search queries

Moved to the additional surveillance graphs document:

• Figure 29: Normalised Google search score for COVID-19 symptoms, with weighted score for media-debiasing and historical trend, England

Flu Detector

Moved to the additional surveillance graphs document:

• Figure 30: Daily estimated ILI Google search query rates per 100,000 population, England

NHS 111

This section has been removed. A new section for syndromic has been added in the week 23 report. This new section summaries the syndromic indicators and refers to the syndromic report.

Primary care surveillance section

RCGP Clinical Indicators (England)

Kept:

• Figure 33: RCGP influenza-like illness (ILI) consultation rates, all ages, England
  • This is now Figure 8 in the summer report

Removed:

• Figure 34: RCGP ILI, LRTI and COVID-19 indicator rates, England
• Table 2: GP ILI consultation rates in the UK for all ages with MEM (Moving Epidemic Method) thresholds applied

RCGP sentinel swabbing scheme in England

Kept:

• Figure 35: Number of samples tested for SARS-Cov-2, influenza, and other respiratory viruses in England by week, GP sentinel swabbing
  • This is now Figure 9 in the summer report
• Figure 38: Weekly positivity (%) for COVID-19, Influenza and RSV in England by week, GP sentinel swabbing
  • This is now Figure 11 in the summer report

Updated:

• Figure 36: Proportion of detections of SARS-CoV-2, influenza, and other respiratory viruses amongst virologically positive respiratory surveillance samples in England by week, GP sentinel swabbing scheme
  • Updated to “Figure 10: Proportion of detections of SARS-CoV-2, influenza, and other respiratory viral strains amongst virologically positive respiratory surveillance samples in England by week, GP sentinel swabbing scheme” in the week 23 report

Removed:

• Figure 37: Number of positives samples for influenza A (by subtype) and B in England by week, GP sentinel swabbing

GP In Hours, Syndromic Surveillance

This section has been removed. A new section for syndromic has been added in the week 23 report. This new section summarises the syndromic indicators and refers to the syndromic report.

GP Out of Hours, Syndromic Surveillance

This section has been removed. A new section for syndromic has been added in the week 23 report. This new section summarises the syndromic indicators and refers to the syndromic report.

Secondary care surveillance section

Hospitalisations, SARI Watch

Kept:

• Figure 44: Weekly hospital admission rate by age group for new COVID-19 positive cases reported through SARI Watch
  • This is now Figure 13 in the summer report

Updated:

• Figure 40: Weekly overall hospital admission rates of new COVID-19 and influenza positive cases per 100,000 population reported through SARI Watch, England
  • Updated to “Figure 12: Weekly overall COVID-19 hospital admission rates per 100,000 trust catchment population, SARI Watch, England”

Removed:

• Figure 41: Weekly overall influenza hospital admission rates per 100,000 trust catchment population with MEM thresholds, SARI Watch, England
• Figure 42: Weekly influenza hospital admissions by influenza type, SARI Watch, England
• Figure 43: Weekly hospital admission rate by UKHSA centre for new influenza reported through SARI Watch

Moved to the additional surveillance graphs document:

• Figure 43: Weekly hospital admission rate by UKHSA centre for new (a) COVID-19 positive cases reported through SARI Watch

ICU or HDU admissions, SARI Watch

Kept:

• Figure 46: Weekly overall influenza ICU or HDU admission rates per 100,000 trust catchment population with MEM thresholds, SARI Watch, England
  • This is now Figure 15 in the summer report
• Figure 47: Weekly influenza ICU or HDU admissions by influenza type, SARI Watch, England
  • This is now Figure 16 in the summer report

Updated:

• Figure 45: Weekly overall ICU or HDU admission rates of new COVID-19 and influenza positive cases per 100,000 population reported through SARI Watch, England
  • Updated to “Figure 14: Weekly overall COVID-19 ICU or HDU admission rates per 100,000 trust catchment population, SARI Watch, England”

Moved to the additional surveillance graphs document:

• Figure 48: Weekly ICU or HDU admission rate by UKHSA centre for new (a) COVID-19 positive cases and (b) influenza, reported through SARI Watch
• Figure 49: Weekly ICU or HDU admission rate by age group for new (a) COVID-19 positive cases and (b) influenza, reported through SARI Watch

ECMO, SARI Watch

Moved to the additional surveillance graphs document:

• Figure 50: 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

Kept:

• Figure 52: Weekly hospitalisation (including ICU or HDU) admission rates by age group for new RSV cases reported through SARI Watch, England
  • This is now Figure 17 in the summer report

Removed:

• Figure 51: Weekly overall hospital admission rates (including ICU or HDU) of RSV positive cases per 100,000 population reported through SARI Watch, England

Emergency Department attendances, Syndromic surveillance

This section has been removed. A new section for syndromic has been added in the week 23 report. This new section summaries the syndromic indicators and refers to the syndromic report

Mortality surveillance section

COVID-19 deaths

Removed:

• Figure 57: Weekly deaths within 28 days of a positive COVID-19 test, England
• Figure 58: Cumulative mortality rate of deaths within 28 days of a positive COVID-19 test per 100,000 population for weeks 15 to 18

Daily excess all-cause mortality (England)

Removed all figures and tables.

Microbiological surveillance section

Influenza virus characterisation

This section has been removed.

Influenza antiviral susceptibility

This section has been removed.

SARS-CoV-2 variants

Kept:

• Figure 62. Prevalence of SARS-CoV-2 variants amongst available sequences episodes for England from 2 May 2022 up to 23 April 2023
  • This is now Figure 18 in the summer report

Removed:

• Table 5. Total distribution of SARS-CoV-2 variants detected in England in the last 12 weeks, up to week 16 (week ending 23 April 2023)

Antimicrobial susceptibility s

This section has been removed.

COVID-19 vaccination section

COVID-19 vaccine uptake in England section

Kept:

• Figure 63. Cumulative weekly COVID-19 vaccine uptake in those who are living and resident in England vaccinated with a Spring 2023 booster since 3 April 2023.
  • This is now Figure 19 in the summer report

International update section

Global COVID-19 update

This section has been kept.

Global influenza update

This section has been kept.

Influenza in Europe

This section has been removed.

Influenza in North America

This section has been removed.

Influenza in Australia

This section has been reinstated. Previously only a link to the Australian Influenza Surveillance report was given.

2. Detailed summary of changes to additional surveillance graphs document

Confirmed COVID-19 cases (England) section

Added:

• Figure 4: Seven-day rolling average PCR positivity (%) of confirmed COVID-19 cases tested overall and by sex under Pillar 1
• Figure 6: Weekly confirmed COVID-19 case rates by episode, per 100,000 population (Pillar 1), by UKHSA centres and sample week
• Figure 9: Weekly incidence per 100,000 population by ethnicity (Pillar 1), England

Removed: all Pillar 2 figures

Respiratory DataMart system (England) section

Added:

• Respiratory DataMart weekly positivity (%) for influenza by age, England
• Respiratory DataMart – Influenza weekly positivity by UKHSA region
• Respiratory DataMart weekly positivity (%) for RSV by age, England

Removed:

• Respiratory DataMart - Influenza subtypes
• Respiratory DataMart - other respiratory viruses

Acute respiratory infection incidents section

This section has been removed.

Google search queries section

Added:

• Figure 29: Normalised Google search score for COVID-19 symptoms, with weighted score for media-debiasing and historical trend, England

Flu Detector section

Added:

• Figure 30: Daily estimated ILI Google search query rates per 100,000 population, England

SGSS section

This section has been removed.

Secondary care surveillance section

Added:

• Figure 43: Weekly hospital admission rate by UKHSA centre for new COVID-19 positive cases reported through SARI Watch
• Figure 48: Weekly ICU or HDU admission rate by UKHSA centre for new (a) COVID-19 positive cases and (b) influenza, reported through SARI Watch
• Figure 49: Weekly ICU or HDU admission rate by age group for new (a) COVID-19 positive cases and (b) influenza, reported through SARI Watch
• Figure 50: Laboratory confirmed ECMO admissions (COVID-19, influenza and non-COVID-19 confirmed) to Severe Respiratory Failure centres in the UK - * SARI Watch data is provisional

Removed:

• Weekly admission rates for hospital and ICU/HDU laboratory confirmed COVID-19 cases reported through SARI Watch

Co/secondary infections with COVID 19 section

This section has been removed.

COVID 19 vaccine uptake in England section

Added:

• Table 7: Provisional cumulative people vaccinated by age with a booster of COVID-19 vaccine from the 3 April 2023 as part of the Spring 2023 campaign in England
• Table 8: Provisional cumulative people vaccinated by age and sex with a Spring 2023 booster of COVID-19 vaccine from the 3 April 2023 as part of the Spring campaign in England
• Table 9: Provisional cumulative people vaccinated by age with a booster of COVID-19 vaccine from the 3 April 2023 as part of the Spring campaign in England
• Table 10: Provisional cumulative people vaccinated with any dose of COVID-19 vaccine in the last 3 months, 3 to 6 months and vaccinated more than 6 months ago
• Figure 64: Provisional cumulative people vaccinated with any dose of COVID-19 vaccine in the last 3 months, 3 to 6 months and vaccinated more than 6 months ago
• Figure 65: Provisional cumulative people vaccinated with any dose of COVID-19 vaccine in the last 3 months, 3 to 6 months and vaccinated more than 6 months ago by ethnicity in those living and resident in England, aged 75 and over
• Figure 66: Provisional cumulative people vaccinated with any dose of COVID-19 vaccine in the last 3 months, 3 to 6 months and vaccinated more than 6 months ago by indices of multiple deprivation (IMD)* in those living and resident in England, aged 75 and over