Report an outbreak of acute respiratory infection in an adult social care setting
You can use this service to report an outbreak if you provide adult social care. This includes a care home, supported living or extra care.
Applies to England
This service is only available in some regions. These include:
- East of England
- London
- South West
- Yorkshire and the Humber
- West Midlands
Other regions should phone your local UKHSA health protection team to report.
Use this service to report:
- a single confirmed case of flu in your setting
- a new outbreak of acute respiratory infection (ARI) – 2 or more people in your setting with symptoms that started within 5 days of each other
ARIs include COVID-19, flu, respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) and other respiratory infections.
It should take about 10 minutes to complete.
Before you start
If possible, test all service users with symptoms who are eligible for COVID-19 treatments, using a COVID-19 rapid lateral flow test. Staff with symptoms who are eligible for COVID-19 treatments should test themselves at home.
If you cannot test people, do not wait. Report as soon as possible.
You’ll need to know the:
- setting postcode
- Care Quality Commission (CQC) location ID, if you are CQC registered
- total number of service users and staff in your setting
- number of service users and staff with symptoms
- dates when people’s symptoms started
- test results for anyone tested for any ARI, for example COVID-19, flu or RSV
- number of service users and staff vaccinated for COVID-19 and flu
- number of service users vaccinated for RSV
You’ll need to give your email address to access the service.
Updating about an existing outbreak
Do not use this online service to give an update on an outbreak that you have already reported. If you need to give an update, contact your local UKHSA health protection team or your community infection control team.
Identifying an ARI outbreak
You only need to report 2 or more ARI cases as an outbreak if they could be linked by spread within your setting. If the infection could not have been spread in your setting, you should not report it as an outbreak. If in doubt, report as an outbreak.
Why you should report
Your local UKHSA health protection team or community infection control team will use this information to assess your outbreak. They will help you manage the outbreak and prevent further spread.
Get help
If you need help using the service or have any other questions, contact your local UKHSA health protection team.
If you need urgent medical advice
If you need urgent medical advice, you should call NHS 111 or visit 111.nhs.uk. For life-threatening emergencies, call 999.