Communicable Disease Surveillance Reports
A summary of reportable communicable disease data for the City of Toronto for 2018 (the most recent calendar year for which data are available) is posted on the page: Communicable Diseases in Toronto. For each disease, a comparison to the previous five-year period is included.
Detailed summaries of reportable disease by gender and age groups for 2018 are available on Open Data.
Additional data and information on communicable disease trends and activities in Ontario and Toronto can be accessed via Public Health Ontario, including:
Current reportable disease trends in Toronto are summarized in this report. To allow adequate time for reports to be processed, and for investigations and quality assurance checks to be completed, data are posted with a delay of approximately two months. Updated data are published monthly around the middle of the month, and can be accessed via the City’s Open Data portal. An additional resource is Public Health Ontario’s monthly report, linked below.
The weekly influenza bulletin is produced weekly during periods with increased influenza activity in Toronto – generally November to April – and provides descriptive epidemiologic data on influenza activity in the City of Toronto.
The full report is distributed each Friday, by email subscription.
Subscribe to Weekly Influenza News
Technical notes to accompany the Weekly Influenza News
Summary of Influenza Activity in Toronto: Week 3 (Jan 12, 2020 to Jan 18, 2020)
Important change: Due to operational issues, this influenza report is based on a combination of entries into iPHIS (up to week 52) and notifications aggregated by subtype for weeks 1 to 3. As data validation continues, the number of reported cases for these weeks may change in subsequent publications. A breakdown of counts and rates by age group is not currently available.
| Indicator | Activity Level* | Description |
|---|---|---|
| Laboratory-Confirmed Influenza Cases† | Comparable | In week 3, 487 new laboratory-confirmed cases of influenza were reported, comparable to the 510 cases reported in week 2. To date this season, 2,021 cases have been reported, higher than the previous 5-season mean of 1,183 cases. |
| Influenza Strains for Ontario Cases‡ | 153 isolates characterized | As of week 2, the Laboratory-Based Respiratory Pathogen Surveillance Report reported a total of 153 isolates for Ontario cases to date this season:
|
| Influenza Outbreaks in Toronto Healthcare Institutions | Lower | 8 institutional influenza outbreaks were reported in week 3. |
| Overall | Comparable | Influenza activity in Toronto for week 3 was comparable to the activity in week 2. |
*May not reflect statistically significant changes, but describes overall observed trends and compares to the previous surveillance week.
†Starting in the 2017/18 season, the Ontario Ministry of Health (formerly known as Ontario Ministry of Health and Long-Term Care) advised public health units that they were no longer required to do any additional investigation to collect information beyond what has already been reported in the initial laboratory report. No changes were made to investigations of institutional influenza outbreaks. As a result, subtype information will be available for a smaller proportion of laboratory-confirmed cases, and hospitalization and death information will be underestimated. Therefore, comparisons between the current season and prior seasons should be made with caution. Please refer to the technical notes for details.
‡Data on influenza strains for Ontario cases are obtained from the Laboratory-Based Respiratory Pathogen Surveillance Report published the week preceding the current Weekly Influenza News for Toronto (e.g., for the Weekly Influenza News for week 34, the influenza strains data are obtained from the Laboratory-Based Respiratory Pathogen Surveillance Report published for week 33).
Additional Data and Information for Ontario and Nationally
- Ontario Respiratory Pathogen Bulletins (Public Health Ontario)
- Flu Watch (Public Health Agency of Canada)