Suspected and laboratory-confirmed reported norovirus outbreaks in hospitals: outbreaks occurring in weeks 49 to 53, 2015
Updated 15 January 2016
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The hospital norovirus outbreak reporting scheme (HNORS) recorded 40 outbreaks occurring between weeks 49 and 53, 2015, 33 of which led to ward/bay closures or restrictions to admissions. Twenty three outbreaks (58%) were recorded as laboratory confirmed due to norovirus. For the calendar year 2015 – between week 1 (January) and week 53 (week beginning 28 December 2015) – 653 outbreaks were reported. Ninety-four per cent (611) of reported outbreaks resulted in ward/bay closures or restrictions to admissions and 66% (428) were laboratory confirmed as due to norovirus.
Suspected and laboratory-confirmed reported norovirus outbreaks in hospitals, with regional breakdown: outbreaks occurring in weeks 49 to 53 of 2015.
| Region/PHE Centre | Outbreaks between weeks 49 to 53/2015 | Total outbreaks weeks 1 to 53/2015 | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Outbreaks | Ward/bay closure* | Lab-confirmed | Outbreaks | Ward/bay closure* | Lab-confirmed | |
| Avon, Gloucestershire and Wiltshire | 4 | 3 | 1 | 79 | 77 | 58 |
| Bedfordshire, Hertfordshire and Northamptonshire | 2 | 2 | 1 | 9 | 9 | 7 |
| Cheshire and Merseyside | – | – | – | 8 | 6 | 8 |
| Cumbria and Lancashire | 1 | 1 | 1 | 40 | 39 | 21 |
| Devon, Cornwall and Somerset | 1 | 1 | 1 | 120 | 120 | 80 |
| Greater Manchester | 1 | 1 | 18 | 15 | 8 | |
| Hampshire, Isle of Wight and Dorset | 1 | 1 | 1 | 26 | 25 | 21 |
| Lincolnshire, Leicestershire, Nottinghamshire and Derbyshire | – | – | – | 29 | 26 | 22 |
| London | – | – | – | 4 | 4 | 1 |
| Norfolk, Suffolk, Cambridgeshire and Essex | – | – | – | – | – | 0 |
| North East | 7 | 7 | 3 | 69 | 64 | 40 |
| Sussex, Surrey and Kent | 9 | 9 | 5 | 28 | 28 | 19 |
| Thames Valley | – | – | – | 9 | 7 | 1 |
| West Midlands | 3 | 3 | 2 | 116 | 113 | 61 |
| Yorkshire and the Humber | 11 | 5 | 8 | 98 | 78 | 81 |
| Total | 40 | 33 | 23 | 653 | 611 | 428 |
* Note: not all outbreaks result in whole wards closures, some closures are restricted to bays only.
In the current season to date (week 27, 2015, to week 53, 2015) †, there were 453 laboratory reports of norovirus. This is 58% lower than the average number of laboratory reports for the same period in the seasons between 2009 and 2010, and 2013 and 2014 (1085).
† 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.