Suspected and laboratory-confirmed reported norovirus outbreaks in hospitals: outbreaks occurring in weeks 48 to 52, 2016
Updated 13 January 2017
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The hospital norovirus outbreak reporting scheme (HNORS) recorded 64 outbreaks occurring between weeks 48 and 52, 2016, 59 of which (92 per cent) led to ward/bay closures or restriction to admissions and 44 (69 per cent) were recorded as laboratory-confirmed due to norovirus. Between week 1 (week beginning 4 January 2016) and week 52 (week beginning 26 December 2016) 563 outbreaks were reported. Ninety-six per cent (539) of reported outbreaks resulted in ward/bay closures or restrictions to admissions and 78% (423) 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 2016
| Region/PHE Centre | Outbreaks between weeks 48 to 52/2016 | Total outbreaks weeks 1 to 52/2016 | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Outbreaks | Ward/bay closure* | Lab-confirmed | Outbreaks | Ward/bay closure* | Lab-confirmed | |
| East of England | – | – | – | 1 | 1 | 1 |
| East Midlands | 1 | 1 | 1 | 29 | 27 | 27 |
| London | 1 | 1 | – | 2 | 2 | – |
| North East | 10 | 10 | 4 | 80 | 76 | 57 |
| North West | 10 | 10 | 5 | 62 | 60 | 41 |
| South East | 4 | 4 | 4 | 50 | 49 | 34 |
| South West | 20 | 19 | 16 | 148 | 147 | 121 |
| West Midlands | 12 | 11 | 11 | 67 | 62 | 45 |
| Yorkshire and Humberside | 6 | 3 | 3 | 124 | 115 | 97 |
| Total | 64 | 59 | 44 | 563 | 539 | 423 |
* Note: not all outbreaks result in whole wards closures, some closures are restricted to bays only.
† 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.