UKHSA is aware of small numbers of locally-acquired cases of clade Ib mpox in the USA, Spain, Italy, the Netherlands and Portugal which have no connection to countries with known clade Ib mpox transmission.  This suggests there is now community transmission of clade Ib mpox globally. Most of the new cases identified in Europe and the USA have been in gay, bisexual and other men who have sex with men, a population in which clade Ib mpox transmission has not previously been observed.  

Mpox is usually a mild infection, and clade Ia and Ib mpox are no longer classified as a high-consequence infectious disease (HCID). However, it can be severe in some cases. 

The UK has a routine mpox vaccination programme in place for eligible groups, including those who:  

• have multiple sexual partners  
• have group sex  
• visit sex-on-premises venues  

We are encouraging those eligible to protect themselves by getting vaccinated.

Further information:

• People can check if they are are eligible, or book an appointment, by visiting Mpox vaccine - NHS.   
• UKHSA has robust mechanisms in place to investigate suspected cases of mpox of all clade types, irrespective of travel history, with regular updates on confirmed UK cases of mpox.  
• UKHSA has published a technical assessment on mpox to reflect the latest epidemiology. 
• Further information about symptoms is available on the NHS website.  

Today we have published our evaluation report of the groundbreaking NHS emergency department (ED) opt-out testing programme - an integrated bloodborne virus (BBV) testing programme for HIV, hepatitis B and hepatitis C. The evaluation findings show the programme has identified thousands of people living unknowingly with bloodborne viruses, with many now being offered life-saving treatment for the first time.  

Between April 2022 to 1 January 2025, over 7 million BBV tests were carried out, representing around 50% of all BBV testing done in these areas during this period. It achieved a high test uptake rate of around 70% among eligible people, demonstrating the effectiveness of the opt-out approach.  A large number of new diagnoses were identified:   

• 3,667 new hepatitis B (HBV) diagnoses 
• 831 new hepatitis C (HCV) diagnoses 
• 719 new HIV diagnoses 

By making testing a routine part of emergency care, patients are receiving lifesaving treatment earlier and helping to protect the wider community. Many of these individuals might never have been tested otherwise, missing the chance to access life-saving treatment. 

The cold-health alerting season starts from this Saturday, 1 November. From this date, cold-health alerts will be issued to provide early warning to the health and social care sector, the responder community, the voluntary and community sector and government departments when adverse temperatures are likely to impact on the health and wellbeing of the population.

As with previous years, we are advising stakeholders to sign up to Weather-Health Alerts which are distributed via email. If you would like to receive the alerts, please register and share the link with anyone you feel should be receiving them.

To support stakeholders communicate cold weather messaging this winter, we have updated our cold weather communications toolkit for 2025/26. The communication material in this toolkit relates specifically to cold weather and is intended to provide basic health information that can be communicated before and during cold spells, so the right messages reach the right people at the right time. The content included in this toolkit can be used to target both public and professional audiences. 

You can read more about the Weather-Health Alerting system and the Adverse Weather and Health Plan (AWHP) on gov.uk.

We are now publishing our COVID-19, flu and RSV surveillance bulletin every Thursday afternoon. This brings together the latest surveillance data, along with the latest public health advice for COVID-19, flu, RSV and other respiratory infections. This helps inform winter preparedness and response.

The latest surveillance data published today by the UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) shows that flu activity is continuing to increase amongst school-aged children, as data also suggests we are seeing signs of a possible earlier flu season.

In week 42:

• Influenza activity increased, particularly among children, and is now above baseline in some indicators  
• COVID-19 showed decreasing activity, circulating at low levels  
• Respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) showed increasing activity across some indicators but is still circulating at baseline levels 

UKHSA is urging all eligible groups, including everyone over 65, pregnant, or in a clinical risk group, to book their flu vaccination appointment to ensure they are protected heading into winter.

Parents are reminded to sign and return consent forms to schools, or to book an appointment for 2 to 3-year-olds, to ensure their child gets vaccinated against flu.

Last week DHSC, UKHSA and NHSE launched a campaign to encourage people who are most vulnerable to stay strong and get vaccinated against flu.

The campaign targets people with conditions including heart, kidney and lung disease, diabetes, chronic respiratory disease, neurological conditions and immunosuppression. 

The campaigns assets can be downloaded from the Campaign Resource Centre. The campaign uses the analogy of suits of armour protecting those vaccinated from the effects of flu. Each condition is displayed as a coat of arms to reinforce recognition.

These have been incorporated into our Winter Health Stakeholder Communications Toolkit 2025/26. This has been developed jointly by UKHSA and NHS England, designed to help with your communications around seasonal vaccines. 

The toolkit is available to download from the Campaign Resource Centre. You can also download from GoogleDrive. 

Please let us know if you cannot access and we can email over the Word or PDF version.

Our new blog explains how you can contribute to protecting the nation's health by joining FluSurvey - our UK-wide citizen science programme. Simply register to report any respiratory symptoms weekly on our website. It's quick and easy, and from this season you can track your symptoms on your profile.

FluSurvey captures valuable data from people managing symptoms at home who may not contact healthcare services - giving us early understanding of respiratory illness across the whole population. This real-time data feeds into our award-winning UKHSA data dashboard.

The more people who participate, the better the data.

Norovirus activity has remained low and within expected levels during weeks 41 and 42. However, cases have started to increase in recent weeks.

The rate remained low across all regions and age groups but was highest among children aged 0 to 4 years.

As we approach the colder months, it’s important to remember the simple steps we can all take to prevent norovirus spreading.

Our new blog helps to explain more about norovirus, what to do if you catch it, and how to help stop the spread.

The Department of Health and Social Care announced that the Women's Health Strategy will be renewed.

The renewed strategy will set out how the government will take the next steps to improve women’s healthcare as part of the 10 Year Health Plan and create a system that listens to women’s experiences and tackles the inequalities they face.

This follows the announcement that menopause questions will be included in the NHS Health Check to better support millions of women.

The annual WAAW/EAAD/AG resource toolkit for healthcare professionals was published on Thursday 18 September and is available to download ahead of World Antimicrobial Resistance Awareness Week (18-24 November 2025). 

In comparison to 2024, the daily themes have been revised as follows:

• Day 1 – ‘Prevention’ theme (including infection prevention and control measures and vaccination). 
• Day 2 – ‘Antimicrobials in clinical practice’ theme 
• Day 3 – ‘Optimising diagnostics’ theme 
• Day 4 – ‘Tackling health inequalities’ theme  (previously ‘Antimicrobials and untrue or spurious allergy’ theme) 
• Day 5 – ‘One Health and research’ theme (previously ‘Antimicrobial resistance and the environment and research’ theme)

Cross-cutting themes underpinning all five days have also been updated for 2025 and will include children and young people, sustainability and research (previously ‘addressing health disparities and inequalities). Each theme is linked to at least one outcome in the 2024-29 National Action Plan (NAP) for AMR.

We encourage extensive cascade and promotion of the toolkit, and we hope this supports your planning activities ahead of WAAW. If you have any queries, please email ESPAUR@ukhsa.gov.uk.

You may also be interested in the World Health Organization (WHO) Global Antibiotic Resistance Surveillance report published on Monday, which shows one in six laboratory-confirmed bacterial infections worldwide were resistant to antibiotic treatments in 2023.