National Flu And COVID-19 Surveillance Reports Published - 21 October 2021

The main points from this week’s national influenza and COVID-19 surveillance report are:

Surveillance indicators suggest that at a national level COVID-19 activity has increased in most indicators in week 41 of 2021.

Case rates were highest in those aged 10 to 19, with a weekly rate of 1366.8 per 100,000 population.

The lowest case rates were in those aged 80 and above, with a weekly rate of 121.2 per 100,000 population.

Weekly case rates per 100,000 population were highest in the South West at 667.6.

Case rates per 100,000 were lowest in London with a weekly rate of 253.0.


The number of acute respiratory infection incidents (suspected outbreaks) in England was 576 in week 41, compared to 579 in the previous week.

The hospital admission rate for week 41 was 7.20 per 100,000 population, in the previous week it was 6.26 per 100,000 population.

Hospital admission rates for COVID-19 were highest in the West Midlands, with a rate of 10.08 per 100,000 population.

The highest hospital admission rates continue to be those aged 85 and above.

Professor Steven Riley, Director General of Data, Analytics and Surveillance at UK Health Security Agency, said:
"Rates of COVID-19 remain high across the country and hospitalisations are increasing. The high death figures recorded this week act as a timely reminder that we all need to play our part to drive down infections, hospitalisations and deaths – the pandemic is far from over. Vaccines remain the best defence against catching COVID-19 and passing it on – please come forward if you haven’t already and if you are eligible for a booster vaccine, please take up the jab as soon as you are offered.

"As winter approaches, help protect yourself and loved ones by washing your hands regularly and wearing a mask in crowded places. When meeting people inside, open windows and doors to ventilate the room. Testing and self-isolation is still critically important – if you have any COVID-19 symptoms, stay at home and get a PCR test as soon as possible."