Suspected and laboratory-confirmed reported norovirus outbreaks in hospitals: outbreaks occurring in weeks 9 to 13, 2015
Updated 15 January 2016
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The hospital norovirus outbreak reporting scheme (HNORS) recorded 114 outbreaks occurring between weeks 9 and 13, 2015, 101 of which (89%) led to ward/bay closures or restriction to admissions. Eighty-one outbreaks (71%) were recorded as laboratory confirmed due to norovirus (see table). For the calendar year 2015 鈥� between week 1 (January) and week 13 (week beginning 16 March) 鈥� 297 outbreaks were reported. Ninety-five per cent (282) of reported outbreaks resulted in ward/bay closures or restrictions to admissions and 71% (212) were laboratory confirmed as due to norovirus (see table).
Suspected and laboratory-confirmed reported norovirus outbreaks in hospitals, with regional breakdown: outbreaks occurring in weeks 9 to 13 of 2015
| Region/PHE Centre | Outbreaks between weeks 9 to 13/2015 | Total outbreaks weeks 1 to 13/2015 | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 听 | Outbreaks | Ward/bay closure* | Lab-confirmed | Outbreaks | Ward/bay closure* | Lab-confirmed |
| Avon, Gloucestershire and Wiltshire | 14 | 13 | 11 | 47 | 46 | 38 |
| Bedfordshire, Hertfordshire and Northamptonshire | 鈥� | 鈥� | 鈥� | 5 | 5 | 4 |
| Cheshire and Merseyside | 鈥� | 鈥� | 鈥� | 3 | 3 | 3 |
| Cumbria and Lancashire | 3 | 3 | 鈥� | 23 | 23 | 10 |
| Devon, Cornwall and Somerset | 21 | 21 | 16 | 49 | 49 | 36 |
| Greater Manchester | 5 | 3 | 4 | 11 | 9 | 6 |
| Hampshire, Isle of Wight and Dorset | 7 | 6 | 6 | 15 | 14 | 14 |
| Lincolnshire, Leicestershire, Nottinghamshire and Derbyshire | 9 | 9 | 6 | 17 | 16 | 13 |
| London | 鈥� | 鈥� | 鈥� | 4 | 4 | 1 |
| Norfolk, Suffolk, Cambridgeshire and Essex | 鈥� | 鈥� | 鈥� | 鈥� | 鈥� | 鈥� |
| North east | 5 | 5 | 3 | 24 | 24 | 16 |
| Sussex, Surrey and Kent | 4 | 4 | 3 | 9 | 9 | 8 |
| Thames Valley | 2 | 2 | 1 | 2 | 2 | 1 |
| West Midlands | 31 | 29 | 19 | 65 | 62 | 40 |
| Yorkshire and the Humber | 13 | 6 | 12 | 23 | 16 | 22 |
| Total | 114 | 101 | 81 | 297 | 282 | 212 |
* Note: not all outbreaks result in whole wards closures, some closures are restricted to bays only.
In the current season to date 鈥�, there have been 6055 laboratory reports of norovirus (from week 27, 2014, to week 13, 2015). This is 13% lower than the average number of laboratory reports for the same period in the seasons between 2009/2010 and 2013/2014 (6954).
鈥� 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.