Suspected and laboratory-confirmed reported norovirus outbreaks in hospitals: outbreaks occurring in weeks 18 to 21, 2016
Updated 13 January 2017
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.