Catering violations found at Sochi hotel amid norovirus outbreak

At the «Loo-Arena» hotel in the Lazarevsky district of Sochi, where football players from Chelyabinsk contracted a norovirus infection in early January, violations in the organization of children«s catering have been found. The Krasnodar department of Rospotrebnadzor informed about the inspection results on January 23.

«Violations of the requirements of sanitary-epidemiological legislation and legislation in the field of technical regulation have been identified. Based on the results, administrative offense cases have been initiated,» the department stated.

Norovirus gastroenteritis is an acute intestinal infection. In 90% of cases, it is caused by norovirus genotype II. The source of infection is a sick person, the incubation period is 12–48 hours, and the duration of the illness is from 2 to 5 days. The virus can be excreted not only during the illness but also in the first days after recovery, and latent carriage is possible for several months. Symptoms include nausea, vomiting, diarrhea, and abdominal pain.

The outbreak of the infection became known on January 7. The Investigative Committee initiated a criminal case under the article on providing services that do not meet safety requirements. Rospotrebnadzor identified the pathogen as a norovirus infection of genotype II. At that time, a group of 80 children from Chelyabinsk was staying at the hotel, among whom there were also those who fell ill. All of them received necessary treatment and were under 24-hour medical supervision.