Last updated: July 21, 2021 at 2:50 p.m.
Toronto Public Health is partnering with Outbreaks Near Me to monitor the frequency of COVID-like symptoms in Toronto. Help us learn how symptoms of COVID-19 may be moving through our community by completing a short survey about your current symptoms.
If you have tested positive for COVID-19, or been told by Toronto Public Health that you have a “probable case” of COVID-19, find out what to do next and what to expect from Toronto Public Health.
If you test positive for COVID-19, you must self-isolate for at least 10 days from the day your symptoms started or the day of your test if you have no symptoms. Even if you are fully vaccinated and test positive for COVID-19, you must self-isolate. For more information, please read the Fully Vaccinated Persons with COVID-19 section below.
If you are severely immune-compromised, or are hospitalized because of COVID-19, then you may have to isolate for 20 days instead of 10 days.
Self-isolation is mandatory under the Health Protection and Promotion Act, and if you fail to do this, you could be fined under the Act. Please review information about the COVID-19 Self-Isolation Class Order.
If you have returned from anywhere outside Canada, including the United States, within the past 14 days you must isolate for 14 days instead of 10 days, unless exempted from federal quarantine. For more information, please see our Travel Advice webpage.
If you cannot safely self-isolate in your own home, you may be eligible to stay at the Toronto Voluntary Isolation Centre.
To safely self-isolate, you should:
Follow Public Health Ontario’s instructions on how to self-isolate.
Instructions on how to self-isolate are also available in: French | Arabic | Bengali | Simplified Chinese | Traditional Chinese | Eastern Ojibwe | Farsi | German | Greek | Gujarati | Hindi | Italian | Japanese | Korean | Mohawk | Oji-Cree | Polish | Portuguese | Punjabi | Romanian | Russian | Somali | Spanish | Swampy Cree | Tagalog | Tamil | Ukrainian | Urdu | Vietnamese
If they are not fully vaccinated, the people you live with must also self-isolate for at least 14 days. Toronto Public Health may direct a longer self-isolation period based on their vaccination and testing status and when you last had close contact with the person who has COVID-19.
Close contact with a household member includes:
If your household members are not able to isolate from you while you are both self-isolating (staying at home), then your household members need to isolate for an additional 14 days after your isolation period ends.
If you believe your household members are fully vaccinated, please see information for Fully Vaccinated Close Contacts.
Fully vaccinated persons are those who have received the second dose of a two-dose COVID-19 vaccine series (e.g., Pfizer, Moderna, AstraZeneca) or one dose of a one-dose COVID-19 vaccine series (e.g., Janssen) and where 14 days have passed since their final dose.
If it has not been 14 days since your final dose, you are not fully vaccinated.
Fully vaccinated persons with COVID-19 must self-isolate. While COVID-19 vaccines significantly decrease the risk for getting sick or dying from COVID-19, fully vaccinated persons can still become infected with the virus and give it to other people.
For information on fully vaccinated close contacts, please see information for Fully Vaccinated Close Contacts.
The Toronto Voluntary Isolation Centre is available for individuals living with others who need a safe and comfortable space to self-isolate.
When someone has COVID-19, they must stay home and self-isolate to prevent further virus spread. Unfortunately, some people may not be able to do this safely in their own home. There may be other people living in their household and/or they may not have enough space to self-isolate from others. They may also have an underlying health condition and live with someone who has tested positive for COVID-19.
If someone is not able to self-isolate they risk spreading COVID-19 to others in their household, which means it could spread in the community too. The Toronto Voluntary Isolation Centre helps reduce these risks.
Toronto Public Health may identify individuals who can benefit from this program through its process of contacting COVID-19 cases in the City. In addition, individuals in the City of Toronto can self-refer through calling the COVID-19 Hotline at 416-338-7600 to complete an eligibility assessment.
You may be eligible to stay at the voluntary isolation centre if you:
Toronto Public Health will organize your stay at the Toronto Voluntary Isolation Centre.
If you need transportation to and from the Centre, Toronto Public Health can arrange that for you. You will have free access to a comfortable and safe room along with Wi-Fi, a landline phone, television, and three meals and two snacks a day. Learn more about what to bring if you are staying at the Centre.
You may bring food from home, receive outside deliveries or have family or friends drop off food or packages. You may also receive deliveries from community agencies. Only designated staff or guests are allowed to enter the Centre and so all deliveries are received at the front door.
Hotel staff will not enter your room during your stay. To prevent the spread of COVID-19, your room will only be cleaned after you leave the hotel.
Call the Toronto Public Health COVID-19 Hotline at 416-338-7600, seven days a week, from 8:30 a.m. to 8 p.m. to learn more.
The Toronto Voluntary Isolation Centre is made possible through funding from the Public Health Agency of Canada.
Read what guests who stayed at the Toronto Voluntary Isolation Centre had to say about their experience:
Thank you so much for allowing me to come here. I appreciate this so much. I’m really so, so happy that I made sure that I didn’t pass COVID to my family. I have two children that I wanted to protect. My daughter has severe asthma and both of my children got tested and they tested negative. I am so grateful and appreciate that you gave me a place to stay and all my meals. While, I was here I was able to sew my daughter a new dress by hand and a matching red face mask. Thank you so much.
Thank you for taking care of me and for the daily check-up calls to make sure that I am safe and comfortable while here in isolation.”
I have never been happier to be Canadian. I am grateful to have this service to be able to isolate… it is truly a blessing to be Canadian; to have Toronto Public Health and OHIP to support me. Thank you for being here for me today and each day as I move through this uncertain virus.
If you have tested positive for COVID-19, Toronto Public Health or the Ontario Ministry of Health will attempt to contact you by text message, phone, or letter.
If you are contacted by phone, Toronto Public Health or Ontario Ministry of Health will:
If you have not received any communication and you have additional questions not answered by this website, you can call Toronto Public Health’s COVID-19 Hotline at 416-338-7600.
You may receive a text notification from Toronto Public Health that you have tested positive for COVID-19. The text message will be from 77000 and include a secure link to complete a personal assessment form. The form is voluntary and will take about 10 minutes to complete. You can opt out by texting STOP. After you complete the form, you may receive a call to confirm the information you submitted. If you have any questions about the form, you can call the COVID-19 Hotline at 416-338-7600.
The text messages are delivered by the Virtual Assistant tool, which is part of the Government of Ontario’s case and contact management system. It can be used on mobile devices and created for a mobile experience. All information collected through the tool is kept confidential and protected by Ontario’s health laws. It will only be used for public health purposes.
The Virtual Assistant tool is also being used to contact people who may have been exposed to COVID-19 in certain settings.
You may receive another text notification from Toronto Public Health if you have tested positive and we are not able to reach you. The text message will come from 77000 and contain a link to instructions on what you need to do to help prevent further virus spread.
To stop the spread of COVID-19, it is important that your close contacts are notified so that they can self-isolate and get tested. A close contact is anyone who you spent time with when you were infectious.
The start of your infectious period is based on your symptoms and if you were recently a close contact of someone with COVID-19. For most people, their infectious period begins 48 hours before their symptoms start or 48 hours before their test date if they do not have symptoms. Toronto Public Health will work with you to determine the start of your infectious period and who your close contacts are.
You must notify your employer or school if you have COVID-19. There may be close contacts at your workplace or school who need to be notified to self-isolate. Toronto Public Health works with workplaces and schools where there may be an outbreak to determine who needs to self-isolate . Your workplace administration must also notify Toronto Public Health if there have been 2 or more cases of COVID-19 in the workplace in a 14-day period using the Workplace Reporting Tool.
Keep track of your symptoms so you can tell a health care provider know how you have been feeling. Call Telehealth Ontario at 1-866-797-0000 if you have questions about your symptoms or are unsure about how to manage them. If you have concerning symptoms, including chest pain or shortness of breath, call 911 immediately.
Individuals with a weakened immune system or with certain medical condition can be at increased risk for complications and even death from COVID-19. If you have concerns about any medical conditions, please speak to your health care provider.
If you do not have any symptoms, you should self-monitor for the development of any symptoms. If you develop symptoms during your isolation period you must contact Toronto Public Health as your isolation period may need to change.
Toronto Public Health does not recommend that you get re-tested after finishing your period of self-isolation. Re-testing is not recommended because you may still test positive for several weeks even though you are no longer able to spread the virus.
A negative test, doctor’s note, or clearance letter is not a recommended requirement for you to return to work and Toronto Public Health does not provide return-to-work letters.
In general, you are no longer infectious and can return to work, school, and your everyday activities when you finish your self-isolation period (usually 10 days after your symptoms began).
Toronto Public Health will tell you what date you can end self-isolation. You can stop self-isolating on that date if you do not have a fever and if your symptoms have been improving for at least 24 hours. You must continue to stay home and not go to work or school until you are able to meet these requirements.
If you were admitted to an Intensive Care Unit (ICU) or you have been told that you are severely immune-compromised you should isolate for 20 days (from when symptoms began).
If you never had symptoms, you can return to work 10 days after your testing date.
Even if you are no longer infectious after 10 days, you may feel lingering effects of your illness. Please speak with your health care provider or call Telehealth Ontario at 1-866-797-0000 if you need further care.
After you stop self-isolating you must continue to practise prevention measures, including physical distancing, wearing a mask, and washing your hands.
If you have questions about your self-isolation period or whether you can return to work, call the COVID-19 Hotline 416-338-7600.