Suspected and laboratory-confirmed reported norovirus outbreaks in hospitals: outbreaks occurring in weeks 18 to 21, 2016
Updated 13 January 2017
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The hospital norovirus outbreak reporting scheme (HNORS) recorded 19 outbreaks occurring between weeks 18 and 21, 2016, 18 of which led to ward/bay closures or restriction to admissions. Twelve outbreaks (63%) were recorded as laboratory confirmed due to norovirus. Between week 1 (January 2016) and week 21 (week beginning 23 May 2016) 319 outbreaks were reported. Ninety-seven per cent (308) of reported outbreaks resulted in ward/bay closures or restrictions to admissions and 81% (258) were laboratory confirmed as due to norovirus.
Suspected and laboratory-confirmed reported norovirus outbreaks in hospitals, with regional breakdown: outbreaks occurring in weeks 18 to 21 of 2016
| Region/PHE Centre | Outbreaks between weeks 21 to 21/2016 | Total outbreaks weeks 1 to 21/2016 | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Outbreaks | Ward/bay closure* | Lab-confirmed | Outbreaks | Ward/bay closure* | Lab-confirmed | |
| Avon, Gloucestershire and Wiltshire | 3 | 3 | 3 | 48 | 48 | 37 |
| Bedfordshire, Hertfordshire and Northamptonshire | – | – | – | – | – | – |
| Cheshire and Merseyside | – | – | – | 5 | 5 | 5 |
| Cumbria and Lancashire | 4 | 4 | 3 | 17 | 17 | 11 |
| Devon, Cornwall and Somerset | 1 | 1 | 1 | 19 | 19 | 14 |
| Greater Manchester | 1 | 1 | – | 11 | 11 | 8 |
| Hampshire, Isle of Wight and Dorset | – | – | – | 25 | 25 | 21 |
| Lincolnshire, Leicestershire, Nottinghamshire and Derbyshire | – | – | – | 21 | 20 | 20 |
| London | – | – | – | 1 | 1 | – |
| Norfolk, Suffolk, Cambridgeshire and Essex | – | – | – | – | – | – |
| North east | 5 | 4 | 4 | 58 | 54 | 50 |
| Sussex, Surrey and Kent | – | – | – | 5 | 4 | 5 |
| Thames Valley | 1 | 1 | – | 12 | 12 | 9 |
| West Midlands | 4 | 4 | 1 | 31 | 30 | 22 |
| Yorkshire and the Humber | – | – | – | 66 | 62 | 56 |
| Total | 19 | 18 | 12 | 319 | 308 | 258 |
* Note: not all outbreaks result in whole wards closures, some closures are restricted to bays only.
In the current season to date † (from week 27, 2015, to week 21, 2016), there were 4000 laboratory reports of norovirus. This is 15% lower than the average number of laboratory reports for the same period in the seasons between 2009/2010 and 2014/2015 (4713).
† 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 earlier reports (based on LabBase2) and the new system (SGSS) may not be valid.