Suspected and laboratory-confirmed reported norovirus outbreaks in hospitals: outbreaks occurring in weeks 36 to 39, 2015
Updated 15 January 2016
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The hospital norovirus outbreak reporting scheme (HNORS) recorded six outbreaks occurring between weeks 36 and 39, 2015, all of which led to ward/bay closures or restrictions to admissions. Three outbreaks were recorded as laboratory confirmed due to norovirus. For the calendar year 2015 – between week 1 (January) and week 39 (week beginning 21 September) – 554 outbreaks were reported. Ninety-four per cent (524) of reported outbreaks resulted in ward/bay closures or restrictions to admissions and 66% (386) were laboratory confirmed as due to norovirus.
Suspected and laboratory-confirmed reported norovirus outbreaks in hospitals, with regional breakdown: outbreaks occurring in weeks 36 to 39 of 2015.
| Region/PHE Centre | Outbreaks between weeks 36 to 39/2015 | Total outbreaks weeks 1 to 39/2015 | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Outbreaks | Ward/bay closure* | Lab-confirmed | Outbreaks | Ward/bay closure* | Lab-confirmed | |
| Avon, Gloucestershire and Wiltshire | – | – | – | 61 | 60 | 48 |
| Bedfordshire, Hertfordshire and Northamptonshire | – | – | – | 7 | 7 | 6 |
| Cheshire and Merseyside | – | – | – | 8 | 6 | 8 |
| Cumbria and Lancashire | 1 | 1 | – | 39 | 38 | 20 |
| Devon, Cornwall and Somerset | – | – | – | 114 | 114 | 78 |
| Greater Manchester | – | – | – | 17 | 14 | 8 |
| Hampshire, Isle of Wight and Dorset | – | – | – | 25 | 24 | 20 |
| Lincolnshire, Leicestershire, Nottinghamshire and Derbyshire | – | – | – | 18 | 17 | 14 |
| London | – | – | – | 4 | 4 | 1 |
| Norfolk, Suffolk, Cambridgeshire and Essex | – | – | – | – | – | – |
| North east | 2 | 2 | 1 | 51 | 48 | 31 |
| Sussex, Surrey and Kent | – | – | – | 17 | 17 | 13 |
| Thames Valley | 1 | 1 | – | 7 | 5 | 1 |
| West Midlands | 2 | 2 | 2 | 112 | 109 | 58 |
| Yorkshire and the Humber | – | – | – | 74 | 61 | 62 |
| Total | 6 | 6 | 3 | 554 | 524 | 368 |
* Note: not all outbreaks result in whole wards closures, some closures are restricted to bays only.
In the current season to date †, the number laboratory reports of norovirus is 34% higher than the average number of laboratory reports for the same period in the seasons between 2009/2010 and 2013/2014 (237).
† 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 the earlier report (based on LabBase2) and the new system (SGSS) may not be valid.