COVID-19 Wastewater Surveillance in Ontario
Wastewater surveillance is used by public health experts to track and monitor diseases, including COVID-19. This is done by testing community wastewater for the presence of SARS-CoV-2 from infected individuals —called the wastewater signal. This report presents the wastewater signal for Ontario, as well as its sub-regions.
Acknowledgement: The COVID-19 Wastewater Surveillance in Ontario report is based on the original work of the Ontario COVID-19 Science Advisory Table entitled, Wastewater Signals in Ontario, September 6, 2022.
This report is updated Thursdays at 4:30 p.m. ET (based on data extracted on Wednesdays)
For information on source data, citations, definitions, methods and more see our Technical Notes.
Download the data set (Excel format):
COVID-19 Wastewater Signal Data.
To view an archived version of the report, see Archived Graphs.
Grey Background: The dotted portion of the curves highlighted with a grey background should be interpreted with caution. These estimates have a higher likelihood of changing in future updates due to a combination of reasons, including but not limited to the analytical approach used, new data submissions for recent days or updates to previously reported data.
Ontario sub-regions: These refer to the following geographical groupings of public health units:
- North West: Northwestern Health Unit and Thunder Bay District Health Unit.
- North East: Algoma Public Health; North Bay Parry Sound District Health Unit; Porcupine Health Unit; Public Health Sudbury & Districts; and Timiskaming Health Unit.
- Eastern: Eastern Ontario Health Unit; Hastings Prince Edward Public Health; Kingston, Frontenac and Lennox & Addington Public Health; Leeds, Grenville & Lanark District Public Health; Ottawa Public Health; and Renfrew County and District Health Unit.
- Central East, excluding GTA: Haliburton, Kawartha, and Pine Ridge District Health Unit; Peterborough Public Health; and Simcoe Muskoka District Health Unit.
- Greater Toronto Area (GTA): Durham Region Health Department; Halton Region Public Health; Peel Public Health; Toronto Public Health; and York Region Public Health
- South West: Chatham-Kent Public Health; Grey Bruce Health Unit; Huron Perth Public Health; Lambton Public Health; Middlesex-London Health Unit; Southwestern Public Health; and Windsor-Essex County Health Unit.
- Central West, excluding GTA: Brant County Health Unit; Haldimand-Norfolk Health Unit; City of Hamilton Public Health Services; Niagara Region Public Health; Region of Waterloo Public Health and Emergency Services; and Wellington-Dufferin-Guelph Public Health.
How to cite this page: Ontario Agency for Health Protection and Promotion (Public Health Ontario). COVID-19 wastewater surveillance in Ontario. Toronto, ON: King's Printer for Ontario; 2023.
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