Nearly 20 staff and residents at a Balclutha rest-home have fallen sick after a norovirus outbreak there, first reported nearly two weeks ago.
Public Health South's Otago-Southland medical officer of health, Dr Marion Poore, yesterday confirmed the Chateau Village had imposed restrictions on visitors and taken other precautions after 12 residents and seven staff fell ill about October 19.
It is not clear how many others, if any, have been struck down since the outbreak was first reported.
But Dr Poore believed the worst was over as there had been no new reported cases in the past 48 hours, which was "extremely promising."
"We anticipate they [the Chateau] will be back to normal business after they have completed their final cleaning procedures over the weekend."
Dr Poore praised Chateau staff for doing "a tremendous job, in doing all the right things and have got on top of this relatively quickly".
Chateau manager Rosemary Thompson declined to comment when approached. It is the second significant health scare at the Chateau in the last 18 months.
In May last year, several staff and residents fell ill after a viral outbreak, but Dr Poore said norovirus was widespread in the community and highly contagious.
It was not unusual in places like rest-homes "for these kinds of events to occur."
"I have no reason to believe that the standard procedures aren't being followed there. I think it's just one of those things that happens."
