Norovirus on the rise in childcare settings
Katy Morton
Friday, July 23, 2021
Official data shows that cases of the vomiting bug have been spreading ‘rapidly’ among pre-school children in nurseries and childcare settings in England over the past few weeks.
According to Public Health England (PHE), norovirus, also known as the ‘winter vomiting bug’, is far more widespread than usual for the summer months.
Its latest data (published 15 July) reveals that the number of outbreaks of the virus are at a five-year high for this time of year. In the last five weeks, 154 outbreaks of norovirus were reported, compared with an average of 53 during the same period in June in the previous five years.
PHE says that rates have been especially low during the pandemic due to social distancing rules and people paying more attention to hygiene, but have been rising since restrictions began to ease in early April.
There has been an increase in cases across all age groups, however outbreaks are mainly within educational settings, with children then spreading the virus, which causes vomiting and diarrhoea, to others.
Professor Saheer Gharbia, deputy director of the National Infection Service at PHE, advised anyone experiencing norovirus symptoms to stay at home and not return to work or send children to school or nursery until 48 hours after symptoms have cleared.
She also warned that handwashing is very important to prevent the spread of the stomach virus as unlike Covid-19, alcohol gels do not kill it.
