PandemicPreparedness

Updated: September 2025

• Mpox
• Bird Flu
• COVID-19
• MERS-CoV
• Pandemic Preparedness
• Variant Influenza

MPOX

The country reported the first case of mpox in May 2022. Since then there has been local transmission.

Testing is available in UKHSA laboratories and some NHS and private laboratories.

Vaccination is available for several groups including travellers who are eligible. Mpox vaccine finder can help locate vaccination sites.

Find the latest updates here.

Bird flu

H5N1 was first detected in birds in October 2005. Several outbreaks occurred in wild birds and poultry between 2006 and 2008. A large outbreak of H5N1 was reported in winter 2021-22, but atypically this continued through the summer months and into winter 2022-23. Th­is outbreak affected dozens of locations across the nation including wild bird sanctuaries and commercial poultry farms.
H5N2 was detected among poultry on a small commercial farm in Kent in October 2020.
H5N5 was detected in a wild bird in September 2023.
H5N6 was detected in January and June 2018 in three dead swans and one goose respectively.
H5N3 was detected in December 2019 and the UK was declared free from H5N3 in June 2020.
H5N8 was documented in wild birds and poultry in England, Scotland, and Wales in the winter of 2016-2017. H5N8 has also been in mammals including foxes and seals in southern England.
H7N7 was detected on poultry farms in both 2008 and 2015.

Human cases of bird flu

The first H5N1 human infection occurred in December 2021. Since then, six H5N1 infections have been detected, all in individuals exposed to poultry.

Human infections with low pathogenic avian influenza (LPAI) have also occurred. The first infection was reported in 1996 when an individual exposed to backyard poultry tested positive for H7N7. Since then, sporadic human infections with LPAI have been detected. In 2006, one person tested positive for H7N3. In 2007, four people tested positive for H7N2.

COVID-19

The first cases of COVID-19 were identified in late January 2020.
For the latest case updates, see the dashboards for England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland. The COVID-19 hotline is: 119. 

Information is also available from the WHO COVID-19 dashboard.

MERS-CoV

In addition to a patient medically evacuated to the UK for treatment in 2012, a single case in a traveller returning from Saudi Arabia led to local transmission to a relative and another in the same family cluster in early 2013.

Pandemic Preparedness

The United Kingdom is regarded as one of the most well prepared countries for potential pandemic threats, including influenza. During the 2009 H1N1 influenza pandemic, stocks of antiviral medication were made available to the general public via online portals and telephone helplines.

The national Pandemic Influenza Response Plan 2014 and healthy emergency planning information is available from the GOV.UK website and pandemic planning is built in to local healthcare governance and advice made available for employers and essential services.

Variant Influenza

In November 2023, the UK reported its first human case of swine-origin influenza A(H1N2)v infection. The case was detected during routine national flu surveillance. The patient, who did not have prior exposure to pigs, only experienced mild symptoms and fully recovered. Contact tracing was implemented, and no human to human transmission has yet been documented.