An outbreak of gastroenteritis in NSW has prompted authorities to warn people to wash their hands and stay at home if affected by the highly infectious disease.
More than 1600 people have attended NSW emergency departments with gastroenteritis in the past week - an increase of 14 per cent on last year's figure - and more than 400 of this group were admitted to hospital, NSW Health announced on Thursday.
The majority of outbreaks have been at nursing homes, hospitals and child care centres, where at least 550 people have been affected.
