Suspected and laboratory-confirmed reported norovirus outbreaks in hospitals: outbreaks occurring in weeks 18 to 21, 2017
Updated 8 December 2017
The hospital norovirus outbreak reporting scheme (HNORS) recorded 13 outbreaks occurring between weeks 18 and 21, 2017, 11 of which (85 per cent) led to ward/bay closures or restriction to admissions and nine (69 per cent) were recorded as laboratory-confirmed due to norovirus. From week 1 (week beginning 2 January 2017) and week 21 (week beginning 22 May 2017) 182 outbreaks were reported. Ninety-five per cent (173) of reported outbreaks resulted in ward/bay closures or restrictions to admissions and 80% (139) 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 2017
Region/PHE Centre | Outbreaks between weeks 18 to 21/2017 | Total outbreaks weeks 1 to 21/2017 | ||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Ìý | 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 | 2 | 26 | 23 | 18 |
North West | 2 | 2 | 1 | 22 | 22 | 17 |
South East | – | – | – | 18 | 17 | 14 |
South West | 3 | 2 | 3 | 36 | 34 | 30 |
West Midlands | 1 | 1 | 1 | 46 | 44 | 32 |
Yorkshire and Humberside | 4 | 4 | 2 | 21 | 20 | 16 |
Total | 13 | 11 | 9 | 182 | 173 | 139 |
* 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 21, 2017), there were 2534 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 (4565).
†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.