Suspected and laboratory-confirmed reported norovirus outbreaks in hospitals: outbreaks occurring in weeks 14 to 17, 2017
Updated 8 December 2017
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The hospital norovirus outbreak reporting scheme (HNORS) recorded 41 outbreaks occurring between weeks 14 and 17, 2017, 12 of which (92 per cent) led to ward/bay closures or restriction to admissions and 10 (77 per cent) were recorded as laboratory-confirmed due to norovirus. From week 1 (week beginning 2 January 2017) and week 17 (week beginning 24 April 2017) 149 outbreaks were reported. Ninety-six per cent (143) of reported outbreaks resulted in ward/bay closures or restrictions to admissions and 80% (114) were laboratory-confirmed as due to norovirus.
Suspected and laboratory-confirmed reported norovirus outbreaks in hospitals, with regional breakdown: outbreaks occurring in weeks 14 to 17 of 2017
| Region/PHE Centre | Outbreaks between weeks 14 to 17/2017 | Total outbreaks weeks 1 to 17/2017 | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Outbreaks | Ward/bay closure* | Lab-confirmed | Outbreaks | Ward/bay closure* | Lab-confirmed | |
| East of England | – | – | – | – | – | – |
| East Midlands | – | – | – | 12 | 12 | 12 |
| London | – | – | – | 1 | 1 | – |
| North East | 3 | 2 | 1 | 23 | 21 | 16 |
| North West | – | – | – | 18 | 18 | 14 |
| South East | 2 | 2 | 2 | 17 | 16 | 13 |
| South West | 5 | 5 | 5 | 29 | 28 | 24 |
| West Midlands | 3 | 3 | 2 | 45 | 43 | 31 |
| Yorkshire and Humberside | – | – | – | 4 | 4 | 4 |
| Total | 13 | 12 | 10 | 149 | 143 | 114 |
* Note: not all outbreaks result in whole wards closures, some closures are restricted to bays only.
In the current season to date † (from week 1, 2017, to week 17, 2017), there were 2240 laboratory reports of norovirus. This is 44% lower than the average number of laboratory reports for the same period in the seasons between 2012 and 2016 (3998).
† 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.