Seasonal Respiratory Infections and Enteric Outbreaks Surveillance Reports

The dashboard provides an overview of respiratory infections, respiratory outbreaks, and enteric outbreaks in Ottawa for the current respiratory surveillance season (the 12-month period from about September through August) across four pages:

Overall Surveillance
  • Current activity levels (low, moderate, high and very high) and changes since the previous week for 4 indicators (wastewater, percent positivity, new hospitalizations, and new respiratory outbreaks in healthcare settings) for Influenza, COVID-19, RSV and other respiratory viruses.
  • Current activity levels (low, moderate, high and very high) and changes since the previous week for new enteric outbreaks in healthcare settings.
  • As of September 6, 2023, a respiratory transmission risk assessment for healthcare settings has been added to help local health system partners in adjusting infection prevention and control measures using local epidemiology.
Respiratory Viruses
  • Longer term trend data with comparisons to historical averages for the 4 overall surveillance indicators.
  • Longer term trend data with comparisons to historical averages for all-cause and respiratory-related emergency department visits to Ottawa hospitals by age group
  • Season-to-date counts for influenza and COVID-19 including median age and age-specific rates. 
Enteric Outbreaks
  • Trends in enteric outbreaks in healthcare institutions, congregate care settings, and childcare centres and schools
Data Sources & Methodology
  • Data notes, sources, definitions, and detailed descriptions of the cut-offs used for the levels and the assessment of change since the previous week.
  • Describes the methodology to calculate the cut-offs, change since previous week, and respiratory transmission risk in healthcare settings assessment.



For information on influenza activity across Ontario see the Respiratory Virus Overview in Ontario, and for Canada see the FluWatch report. Regional syndromic surveillance data on Influenza like Illness (ILI), including hospital admissions and emergency department visits, can be accessed through the Viral Respiratory Mapper.

To control both COVID-19 and influenza and keep our community safe, we ask that all residents continue to follow public health measures. Please also visit our Influenza page to find out how to get your vaccine.


Dashboard updated weekly on Wednesdays

The following data tables are available for download on Open Ottawa:

Supporting documents:

 

To enter the Power BI report using a keyboard, press Tab once after the "full screen mode" link and press Ctrl + Enter. A small box will appear in the top left corner of the report. Press Tab three times to navigate through the options and you will then be inside the report. From here you can navigate the content of the report using Tab and the other keyboard shortcuts enumerated in the Keyboard Shortcuts document.

 

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Previous season (2020-2021)

Influenza activity in Ottawa residents was minimal in 2020-2021. Percent positivity did not exceed 5% for at least two weeks in a row. COVID-19 public health measures in 2020-2021 are believed to have greatly reduced influenza activity during the 2020-2021 Influenza season.

 

Past Seasons from 2013-2014 to 2018-2019

Graph of the number of laboratory-confirmed influenza cases in Ottawa, by influenza season, from 2013-2014 to 2018-2019

 Graph showing the number of laboratory confirmed cases of influenza by flu week. The graph shows six curves representing the influenza cases of the previous six seasons. The figure has been converted into a table below.

Date ranges for influenza surveillance (flu weeks) weeks change slightly each season. For ease of interpretation, only 2018-2019 flu week date ranges are captured in the epidemiological curve above. Visit the FluWatch Weeks Calendar for the current season's flu week date ranges.

Data
 Figure Data Table

 Week

2013-2014

2014-2015

2015-2016

2016-2017

2017-2018

2018-2019

wk 35

0

0

0

1

0

0

wk 36

0

0

0

0

2

0

wk 37

0

0

0

1

0

0

wk 38

0

0

0

1

1

1

wk 39

0

0

3

0

1

0

wk 40

0

0

0

0

0

1

wk 41

0

0

1

1

3

0

wk 42

0

1

1

0

0

5

wk 43

0

0

1

0

1

2

wk 44

2

0

0

1

0

3

wk 45

0

1

1

2

0

1

wk 46

0

0

0

1

4

5

wk 47

0

0

1

2

3

3

wk 48

4

5

1

5

9

6

wk 49

7

7

4

10

3

17

wk 50

6

21

1

14

13

8

wk 51

24

51

5

42

25

8

wk 52

33

65

4

60

36

20

wk 1

47

97

3

61

72

30

wk 2

45

98

7

50

85

39

wk 3

30

74

5

39

76

42

wk 4

20

56

14

34

59

37

wk 5

11

63

18

38

62

40

wk 6

16

53

29

35

89

37

wk 7

6

46

41

28

106

46

wk 8

6

49

54

25

118

38

wk 9

4

26

56

27

117

42

wk 10

5

34

61

16

72

31

wk 11

13

44

63

25

46

38

wk 12

12

38

23

12

41

26

wk 13

10

24

24

19

39

18

wk 14

9

12

19

11

36

31

wk 15

12

14

14

12

28

36

wk 16

17

14

13

11

13

22

wk 17

12

10

11

14

8

14

wk 18

7

14

9

7

8

14

wk 19

11

2

12

1

5

5

wk 20

8

3

2

7

2

6

wk 21

18

0

3

2

0

9

wk 22

5

0

2

2

0

2

wk 23

2

1

0

1

1

1

wk 24

0

0

0

0

0

2

wk 25

0

0

0

1

0

2

wk 26

1

0

0

1

0

1

wk 27

0

1

0

0

0

1

wk 28

0

0

0

0

0

0

wk 29

0

0

0

2

0

0

wk 30

1

0

0

0

0

1

wk 31

0

0

0

0

0

0

wk 32

0

0

0

0

1

0

wk 33

0

0

0

0

1

1

wk 34

0

0

0

0

1

0
Dominant Influenza Strain(s) & Key Flu Activity Periods
 

2013 - 2014

2014 - 2015

2015 - 2016

2016 - 2017

2017 - 2018

2018 - 2019

Dominant influenza strain(s)

A/H1N1

A/H3N2

A/H1N1

A/H3N2

A/H3N2 and B/Phuket (Yamagata lineage)

 A/H1N1 and A/H3N2

First week of flu season‡

Dec 1-7, 2013*

Nov 23-29, 2014*

Jan 17-23, 2016*

Nov 27- Dec 3, 2016

Nov 26- Dec 2, 2017

 Oct 14 – 20, 2018

Week of maximum % test-positivity

Dec 29, 2013 - Jan 4, 2014*

Dec 28, 2014 - Jan 3, 2015*

Mar 6-12, 2016*

Dec 25-31, 2016*

Feb 25- Mar 3, 2018*

  Jan 27 – Feb 2, 2019

Maximum % test-positivity∞

29.1%*

34.5%*

34.3%*

19.4%

34%

  19.8%

Peak week of flu season±

Dec 31, 2013 - Jan 7, 2014

Jan 7-14, 2015

Mar 10-16, 2016

Dec 31, 2016 -Jan 7, 2017

Peak 1: 
Jan 7-14, 2018

Peak 2:
Feb 18-24, 2018

 Feb 10 – 16, 2019
Laboratory-confirmed Influenza Cases
 

2013 - 2014

2014 - 2015

2015 - 2016

2016 - 2017

2017 - 2018

2018 - 2019

Median age

54 years

78 years

45 years

71 years

72 years

62 years

Total flu cases

404

924

506

622

1187

693

Flu A cases (%)

300 (74%)

769 (83%)

402 (79%)

544 (87%)

689 (58%)

666 (96%)

Flu B cases (%)

104 (26%)

153 (17%)

104 (21%)

78 (12%)

492 (41%)

23 (3%)

Hospitalizations

106

234

149

113

Not available

Not available

Deaths

9

27

7

11

21

6
Institutional Respiratory Outbreak
 

2013 - 2014

2014 - 2015

2015 - 2016

2016 - 2017

2017 - 2018

2018 - 2019

Total respiratory outbreaks

73

156

78

132

148

115

Flu A outbreaks

20

91

14

44

42

38

Flu B outbreaks

8

11

3

3

37

3

Non-influenza outbreaks

45

54

61

85

62

74

Hospitalizations≠

Not available

179

17

46

96

 50

Deaths≠

Not available

48

5

19

34

14
Influenza Immunization (flu vaccine)
 

2013 - 2014

2014 - 2015

2015 - 2016

2016 - 2017

2017 - 2018

2018 - 2019

Vaccine doses distributed in Ottawa

390,640

380,309

379,333

379,241

392,603

434,564

Vaccine effectiveness (95% CI)¥

68%
(58-76%)

9%
(0-27%)

46%
(32-57%)

45%
(31-56%)

42%
(22-55%)

56%
(47-64%) 
Archived Seasonal Respiratory Infections and Enteric Outbreaks Surveillance Reports

2019-2020 Influenza Season

2018-2019 Influenza Season

Data Notes

The data presented are current as of Sep 3, 2019.  Unless otherwise stated, information included in this table was extracted from the Ministry of Health and Long-Term Care integrated Public Health Information System (iPHIS) database by Ottawa Public Health (OPH). iPHIS is a dynamic disease reporting system that allows for ongoing updates to data previously entered. Data extracted from the iPHIS database represent a snapshot at the time of extraction and can be different in previous or subsequent reports.

Influenza cases and respiratory infection outbreaks in institutions and public hospitals meeting Ontario Ministry of Health (MOH) case definitions for Diseases of Public Health Significance (DPHS), according to Ontario Public Health Standards: Requirements for Programs, Services, and Accountability (Standards): Infectious Diseases Protocol, are presented. In the City of Ottawa, laboratory confirmation testing of influenza is performed by Public Health Ontario Labs (PHOL) or Eastern Ontario Regional Laboratory Association (EORLA). Changes to DPHS reporting requirements or case definitions, as well as variability in influenza laboratory testing and reporting algorithms at can limit the ability to compare across influenza seasons.

* Influenza laboratory test-positivity data for influenza seasons prior to the 2016-2017 season are unavailable for the City of Ottawa. Ontario data, available from Public Health Ontario (PHO) and accessed here, are included as proxy measures.

‡ First week when 5% or more of samples submitted for laboratory testing were positive for influenza.

∞ Highest % of samples submitted for testing that were positive for influenza during a single week.

± Week when the highest number of new influenza cases were reported to OPH, by accurate episode date.

≠ Deaths and hospitalizations are limited to line-listed resident or patient cases from influenza outbreaks in institutions and public hospitals. Influenza infections are not confirmed through laboratory testing for all line-listed cases, as per MOH reporting case definitions. Generally, up to four sample are tested, the remaining outbreak cases are assumed to be caused by the same respiratory pathogen.

¥ Flu vaccine effectiveness data are based on the Canadian Sentinel Practitioner Surveillance Network (SPSN) influenza vaccine effectiveness estimates accessed here.

 

The report provides an overview of the influenza activity in the City of Ottawa during Influenza Season. For information on the influenza season across Ontario see the Ontario Respiratory Pathogen Bulletin, and for Canada see the FluWatch report. Regional syndromic surveillance data on Influenza like Illness (ILI), including hospital admissions and emergency department visits, can be accessed through ILI mapper.

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