Suspected and laboratory-confirmed reported norovirus outbreaks in hospitals: outbreaks occurring in weeks 9 to 13, 2016
Updated 13 January 2017
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The hospital norovirus outbreak reporting scheme (HNORS) recorded 101 outbreaks occurring between weeks 9 and 13, 2016, 99 of which led to ward/bay closures or restriction to admissions. Eighty-four outbreaks (98%) were recorded as laboratory confirmed due to norovirus. Between week 1 (January 2016) and week 13 (week beginning 28 March 2016) 170 outbreaks were reported. Ninety-seven per cent (164) of reported outbreaks resulted in ward/bay closures or restrictions to admissions and 80% (136) were laboratory confirmed as due to norovirus.
Suspected and laboratory-confirmed reported norovirus outbreaks in hospitals, with regional breakdown: outbreaks occurring in weeks 9 to 13 of 2016
| Region/PHE Centre | Outbreaks between weeks 9 to 13/2016 | Total outbreaks weeks 1 to 13/2016 | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Outbreaks | Ward/bay closure* | Lab-confirmed | Outbreaks | Ward/bay closure* | Lab-confirmed | |
| Avon, Gloucestershire and Wiltshire | 8 | 8 | 4 | 13 | 13 | 8 |
| Bedfordshire, Hertfordshire and Northamptonshire | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 |
| Cheshire and Merseyside | – | – | – | – | – | – |
| Cumbria and Lancashire | 6 | 6 | 4 | 9 | 9 | 5 |
| Devon, Cornwall and Somerset | 4 | 4 | 3 | 7 | 7 | 5 |
| Greater Manchester | 4 | 4 | 3 | 5 | 5 | 4 |
| Hampshire, Isle of Wight and Dorset | 8 | 8 | 6 | 17 | 17 | 14 |
| Lincolnshire, Leicestershire, Nottinghamshire and Derbyshire | – | – | – | 7 | 7 | 6 |
| London | – | – | – | 1 | 1 | – |
| Norfolk, Suffolk, Cambridgeshire and Essex | – | – | – | – | – | – |
| North east | 26 | 25 | 23 | 41 | 38 | 33 |
| Sussex, Surrey and Kent | 2 | 1 | 2 | 5 | 4 | 5 |
| Thames Valley | 2 | 2 | 2 | 10 | 10 | 8 |
| West Midlands | 12 | 12 | 12 | 17 | 16 | 14 |
| Yorkshire and the Humber | 28 | 28 | 24 | 37 | 36 | 33 |
| Total | 101 | 99 | 84 | 170 | 164 | 136 |
* 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 13, 2016), there were 2356 laboratory reports of norovirus. This is 45% lower than the average number of laboratory reports for the same period in the seasons between 2009/2010 and 2013/2014 (4255).
† 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.