Suspected and laboratory-confirmed reported norovirus outbreaks in hospitals: outbreaks occurring in weeks 40 to 43, 2017
Updated 8 December 2017
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The hospital norovirus outbreak reporting scheme (HNORS) recorded five outbreaks occurring between weeks 35 and 39, 2017, four of which led to ward/bay closures or restriction to admissions and two were recorded as laboratory-confirmed due to norovirus. From week 1 (week beginning 2 January 2017) and week 39 (week beginning 25 September 2017) 225 outbreaks were reported. Ninety-three per cent (209) of reported outbreaks resulted in ward/bay closures or restrictions to admissions and 79% (166) were laboratory-confirmed as due to norovirus.
Suspected and laboratory-confirmed reported norovirus outbreaks in hospitals, with regional breakdown: outbreaks occurring in weeks 40 to 43 of 2017
| Region/PHE Centre | Outbreaks between weeks 40 to 43, 2017 | Total outbreaks weeks 1 to 43, 2017 | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Outbreaks | Ward/bay closure* | Lab-confirmed | Outbreaks | Ward/bay closure* | Lab-confirmed | |
| East of England | – | – | – | – | – | – |
| East Midlands | – | – | – | 13 | 13 | 13 |
| London | – | – | – | 1 | 1 | – |
| North East | 1 | 1 | – | 35 | 32 | 19 |
| North West | – | – | – | 27 | 26 | 22 |
| South East | 1 | 1 | 1 | 20 | 19 | 15 |
| South West | 6 | 6 | 5 | 59 | 57 | 48 |
| West Midlands | 3 | 3 | 2 | 54 | 50 | 39 |
| Yorkshire and Humberside | – | – | – | 29 | 24 | 19 |
| Total | 11 | 11 | 8 | 238 | 222 | 175 |
* 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 43, 2017), there were 3681 laboratory reports of norovirus. This is 38% lower than the average number of laboratory reports for the same period in the seasons between 2012 and 2016 (5976).
† 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 Second Generation Surveillance System (SGSS) may not be valid.