Suspected and laboratory-confirmed reported norovirus outbreaks in hospitals: outbreaks occurring in weeks 48 to 52, 2017
Updated 8 December 2017
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The hospital norovirus outbreak reporting scheme (HNORS) recorded 84 outbreaks occurring between weeks 48 and 52, 2017, 79 of which led to ward/bay closures or restriction to admissions and 67 (80%) were recorded as laboratory-confirmed due to norovirus. From week 1 (week beginning 2 January 2017) to week 52 (week beginning 25 December 2017) 355 outbreaks were reported. Ninety-four per cent (334) of reported outbreaks resulted in ward/bay closures or restrictions to admissions and 81% (269) were laboratory-confirmed as due to norovirus.
Suspected and laboratory-confirmed reported norovirus outbreaks in hospitals, with regional breakdown: outbreaks occurring in weeks 48 to 52 of 2017
| Region/PHE Centre | Outbreaks between weeks 48 to 52, 2017 | Total outbreaks weeks 1 to 52, 2017 | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Outbreaks | Ward/bay closure* | Lab-confirmed | Outbreaks | Ward/bay closure* | Lab-confirmed | |
| East of England | – | – | – | – | – | – |
| East Midlands | 2 | 2 | 2 | 16 | 16 | 16 |
| London | 3 | 3 | 2 | 4 | 4 | 2 |
| North East | 17 | 14 | 13 | 55 | 49 | 35 |
| North West | 5 | 5 | 4 | 35 | 34 | 27 |
| South East | 6 | 6 | 4 | 28 | 27 | 31 |
| South West | 22 | 22 | 16 | 100 | 98 | 81 |
| West Midlands | 28 | 26 | 26 | 84 | 78 | 65 |
| Yorkshire and Humberside | 1 | 1 | – | 33 | 28 | 22 |
| Total | 84 | 79 | 67 | 355 | 334 | 269 |
* 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 52, 2017), there were 5349 laboratory reports of norovirus. This is 30% lower than the average number of laboratory reports for the same period in the seasons between 2012 and 2016 (7657).
† 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 Second Generation Surveillance System (SGSS) may not be valid.