Suspected and laboratory-confirmed reported norovirus outbreaks in hospitals: outbreaks occurring in weeks 31 to 34, 2017
Updated 8 December 2017
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The hospital norovirus outbreak reporting scheme (HNORS) recorded seven outbreaks occurring between weeks 31 and 34, 2017, six of which led to ward/bay closures or restriction to admissions and six (86 per cent) were recorded as laboratory-confirmed due to norovirus. From week 1 (week beginning 2 January 2017) and week 34 (week beginning 21 August 2017) 215 outbreaks were reported. Ninety-three per cent (200) of reported outbreaks resulted in ward/bay closures or restrictions to admissions and 80% (159) were laboratory-confirmed as due to norovirus.
Suspected and laboratory-confirmed reported norovirus outbreaks in hospitals, with regional breakdown: outbreaks occurring in weeks 31 to 34 of 2017
| Region/PHE Centre | Outbreaks between weeks 31 to 34/2017 | Total outbreaks weeks 1 to 34/2017 | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 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 | 1 | 1 | – | 33 | 30 | 19 |
| North West | 2 | 2 | 2 | 27 | 26 | 22 |
| South East | – | – | – | 19 | 18 | 14 |
| South West | – | – | – | 47 | 45 | 39 |
| West Midlands | 4 | 3 | 4 | 48 | 45 | 35 |
| Yorkshire and Humberside | – | – | – | 28 | 23 | 18 |
| Total | 7 | 6 | 6 | 215 | 200 | 159 |
* 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 34, 2017), there were 3136 laboratory reports of norovirus. This is 41% lower than the average number of laboratory reports for the same period in the seasons between 2012 and 2016 (5316).
† 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.