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Should I be worried about Respiratory season (influenza, COVID-19, RSV)?

Updated · Graded from official assessments; nothing here is medical advice.

Respiratory season (influenza, COVID-19, RSV) · Attention: high

If you are in the affected area high
WHO said the global public health risk associated with COVID-19 remains high in its global situation update published on 28 May 2025. No retrieved WHO item gave a formal risk level for influenza or RSV in this seasonal picture. According to WHO
If you are elsewhere in the same country or region high
WHO said the global public health risk associated with COVID-19 remains high in its 28 May 2025 update. That is the only retrieved official risk level that applies across this worldwide respiratory-season watch. According to WHO
If you are travelling there soon no assessment
No agency has published an assessment for travellers for this combined respiratory-season topic. The relevant official updates retrieved here are WHO's global influenza and COVID-19 notices.
If you are elsewhere in the world high
WHO said the global public health risk associated with COVID-19 remains high in its global situation update published on 28 May 2025. That is the clearest retrieved official assessment for people elsewhere in the world. According to WHO

What is happening

This is a worldwide seasonal watch for influenza, SARS-CoV-2, and RSV rather than a single outbreak. WHO's latest retrieved influenza update said global influenza activity had increased, with some early northern hemisphere starts and unusually long southern hemisphere seasons, but overall activity remained within expected seasonal ranges. WHO's latest retrieved COVID-19 update said SARS-CoV-2 activity had increased across parts of the Eastern Mediterranean, South-East Asia, and Western Pacific regions, that NB.1.8.1 was increasing, and that the global public health risk remained high. No current global figures were retrieved in these sources, and no WHO disease outbreak news item on RSV was retrieved here. Officials are emphasizing vaccination, virological surveillance, and routine respiratory-risk reduction, while a 2 October 2026 media report from Japan said the country's influenza season began in August and kept rising through September.

Who is affected and how it spreads

These viruses can affect anyone, but severity varies by pathogen, age, prior immunity, comorbidity, and access to care. Influenza viruses, SARS-CoV-2, and RSV mainly spread person to person through the respiratory route. Influenza circulates globally and year-round, COVID-19 continues global circulation with variant turnover, and RSV is a common respiratory tract pathogen. The retrieved sources do not provide one combined incubation period or one overall fatality rate for this mixed seasonal picture.

What we are watching

Updates

Sources