Respiratory Virus Data and Surveillance Reporting (including COVID-19) Updates: April 2023
Announcements
28 March 2023
In response to changes in provincial case and contact management guidelines for COVID-19 outbreaks in institutions, and in an effort to further integrate respiratory virus reporting in Ontario, Public Health Ontario (PHO) is updating its routine respiratory virus surveillance reporting.
Starting April 2023, PHO will merge the COVID-19 in Ontario weekly epidemiological summary into our Respiratory Virus Overview in Ontario epidemiological summary in order to consolidate information on respiratory virus activity in Ontario into one report. This report will move to a bi-weekly schedule.
PHO will continue to update the Ontario COVID-19 Data Tool weekly on Fridays. The Data Tool summarizes COVID-19 data including: cases, hospitalizations and deaths; vaccine uptake by age, sex and public health unit; outbreaks; and laboratory testing.
Key dates for this update:
- March 31: Final COVID-19 in Ontario weekly epidemiological summary published.
- April 10 (in lieu of the April 7 statutory holiday): First consolidated bi-weekly Respiratory Virus Overview in Ontario published.
Where does PHO get the information for data and surveillance reports?
In Ontario, follow up and investigation of confirmed COVID-19 cases are conducted by the province’s 34 local public health units (PHUs). Data from these investigations are entered into CCM, the provincial COVID-19 public health reporting data system. It is from this data system that PHO pulls data for surveillance reports.
What’s changing?
- Most of the data and information in the COVID-19 in Ontario weekly report can already be found in either the Respiratory Virus Overview in Ontario report or the Ontario COVID-19 Data Tool.
- Relevant data from the COVID-19 in Ontario weekly report that are not already available in other PHO resources will be added to the Respiratory Virus Overview in Ontario report.
- The recent changes in the Ministry of Health’s guidance for COVID-19 outbreaks (see Management of Cases and Contacts of COVID-19 in Ontario) reduce data entry requirements by no longer requiring public health units to link COVID-19 cases to outbreaks. As a result, case-based outbreak data that PHO uses in our surveillance reports may be underreported and therefore no longer appropriate to include in our surveillance products.
We have prepared a detailed roadmap that outlines where you can access the information that was previously found in the COVID-19 in Ontario weekly epidemiological summary.
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Data from COVID‑19 in Ontario: Weekly Epidemiological Summary |
Where to find in PHO Resources – As of April 10, 2023 |
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Figure 1a. Confirmed and projected cases of COVID‑19 by reported week |
Adapted figure added to Respiratory Virus Overview in Ontario as Figure 3 in a new “COVID‑19 Case and Severity Trends” section. Projections are no longer included. |
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Figure 1b. Confirmed cases of COVID‑19 (per 100,000 population), by age group and report week |
Data are available in the Ontario COVID‑19 Data Tool’s Age and Sex tab. |
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Figure 2. Weekly COVID‑19 tests completed and percent positivity |
Already included in Respiratory Virus Overview in Ontario (Figure 1). |
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Figure 3a. Confirmed COVID‑19 cases that were admitted to hospital, by hospital admission week |
Figure added to Respiratory Virus Overview in Ontario as Figure 4 in a new “COVID‑19 Case and Severity Trends” section. |
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Figure 3b. Confirmed COVID‑19 cases that were admitted to hospital (per 100,000 population), by age group and hospital admission date |
Data are available in the Ontario COVID‑19 Data Tool’s Age and Sex tab. |
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Figure 4a. Confirmed COVID‑19 deaths, by cause and week of death |
Figure added to Respiratory Virus Overview in Ontario as Figure 5 in a new “COVID‑19 Case and Severity Trends” section. |
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Figure 4b. Confirmed COVID‑19 deaths (per 100,000 population), by age group and week of death |
Data are available in the Ontario COVID‑19 Data Tool’s Age and Sex tab. |
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Figure 5a. Confirmed COVID‑19 cases that were admitted to hospital (per 100,000 population), by quintile of neighbourhood material deprivation and hospital admission week |
Figures discontinued from reporting as a large portion of cases that are hospitalized are in the 80+ age group and living in congregate care settings, which are excluded from ON‑Marg analyses (data source used to generate these figures).
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Figure 6. Confirmed COVID‑19 outbreaks, by setting type and reported week |
Data are available in Ontario COVID‑19 Data Tool’s Outbreaks tab. |
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Table 1. Confirmed COVID‑19 outbreaks, by setting type |
Similar data already included in Respiratory Virus Overview in Ontario (Figure 1b). |
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Table 2. Confirmed outbreak‑associated COVID‑19 cases, by setting type and reported week |
Figure discontinued from PHO reporting due to changes in the cHealth’s Management of Cases and Contacts of COVID‑19 in Ontario. |
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Figure 7. Hospital and ICU bed occupancy, by day |
Figure added to Respiratory Virus Overview in Ontario as Figure 6 in a new “COVID‑19 Case and Severity Trends” section. |
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Figure 8. Confirmed cases of COVID‑19 (per 100,000 population), by region and reported week |
Similar data are available in the Ontario COVID‑19 Data Tool Case Trends and Map tabs. Note: data is presented by public health unit region. |
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Table 3. Confirmed cases of COVID‑19, by public health unit and region |
Data are available in the Ontario COVID‑19 Data Tool Case Trends and Map tabs. |
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Table 4. Confirmed COVID‑19 cases that were admitted to hospital, by sex and age group |
Data are available in the Ontario COVID‑19 Data Tool’s Age and Sex tab. |
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Table 5. Confirmed COVID‑19 deaths, by sex and age group |
Data are available in the Ontario COVID‑19 Data Tool’s Age and Sex tab. |
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Table 6. Confirmed COVID‑19 cases and deaths among LTCH residents, by wave |
Figure discontinued from PHO reporting due to changes in the Ministry of Health’s Management of Cases and Contacts of COVID‑19 in Ontario. |
For more information about PHO’s respiratory surveillance data and reports, including COVID-19 reporting, please visit:
To access previously published COVID-19 in Ontario weekly epidemiological summaries and other archived COVID-19 reports, please visit: Archive of COVID-19 Data and Surveillance Reports.
PHO is committed to providing the best available data and information and will continue to a work with our provincial partners to report on respiratory virus activity in Ontario, including COVID-19.
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