Suspected and laboratory-confirmed reported norovirus outbreaks in hospitals: outbreaks occurring in weeks 1 to 4, 2015
Updated 15 January 2016
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The hospital norovirus outbreak reporting scheme (HNORS) recorded 62 outbreaks occurring between weeks 1 and 4, 2015, all of which led to ward/bay closures or restriction to admissions. Thirty-five outbreaks (57%) were recorded as laboratory confirmed due to norovirus. Between week 1 (January 2014) and week 52 (week beginning 22 December 2014) 689 outbreaks were reported. Ninety-three per cent (642) of reported outbreaks resulted in ward/bay closures or restrictions to admissions and 67% (459) were laboratory confirmed as due to norovirus.
Suspected and laboratory-confirmed reported norovirus outbreaks in hospitals, with regional breakdown: outbreaks occurring in weeks 1 to 4 of 2015
| Region/PHE Centre | Outbreaks between weeks 1 to 4/2015 | Total outbreaks weeks 1 to 52/2014 | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Outbreaks | Ward/bay closure* | Lab-confirmed | Outbreaks | Ward/bay closure* | Lab-confirmed | |
| Avon, Gloucestershire and Wiltshire | 2 | 2 | 1 | 83 | 81 | 52 |
| Bedfordshire, Hertfordshire and Northamptonshire | 4 | 4 | 3 | – | – | – |
| Cheshire and Merseyside | – | – | – | 3 | 2 | 2 |
| Cumbria and Lancashire | 9 | 9 | 2 | 23 | 23 | 12 |
| Devon, Cornwall and Somerset | 6 | 6 | 3 | 86 | 83 | 54 |
| Greater Manchester | 4 | 4 | 1 | 20 | 18 | 7 |
| Hampshire, Isle of Wight and Dorset | 4 | 4 | 4 | 42 | 42 | 31 |
| Lincolnshire, Leicestershire, Nottinghamshire and Derbyshire | 1 | 1 | – | 52 | 50 | 42 |
| London | 1 | 1 | – | 7 | 7 | – |
| Norfolk, Suffolk, Cambridgeshire and Essex | – | – | – | – | – | 5 |
| North east | 9 | 9 | 5 | 86 | 75 | 57 |
| Sussex, Surrey and Kent | – | – | – | 28 | 28 | 19 |
| Thames Valley | – | – | – | 17 | 14 | 6 |
| West Midlands | 20 | 20 | 14 | 115 | 111 | 64 |
| Yorkshire and the Humber | 2 | 2 | 2 | 127 | 108 | 108 |
| Total | 62 | 62 | 35 | 689 | 642 | 459 |
* Note: not all outbreaks result in whole wards closures, some closures are restricted to bays only.
Figure 1. Current weekly norovirus laboratory reports compared to weekly average 2006 to 2010 (to week 4)
In the current season to date † (from week 27, 2014, to week 4, 2015), there were 3726 laboratory reports of norovirus. This is 6% lower than the average number of laboratory reports for the same period in the seasons between 2009/2010 and 2013/2014 (3951).
† The norovirus season runs from July to June (week 27 in year 1 to week 26 in year 2) in order to capture the winter peak in one season.
Note:the number of laboratory reports in the most recent weeks will increase as further reports are received. On 1 December 2014 a new laboratory reporting system was commissioned; as a result, direct comparisons between the earlier report (based on LabBase2) and the new system (SGSS) may not be valid.
Figure 2. Norovirus laboratory reports in the current season, compared with previous years (to week 4)