Coinciding with the beginning of the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic in March 2020, Canadian seasonal influenza circulation was suppressed, which was a trend reported globally. Canada saw a brief and delayed return of community influenza circulation during the spring of the 2021-2022 influenza season. Surveillance for Canada's 2022-2023 seasonal influenza epidemic began in epidemiological week 35 (week starting August 28, 2022) and ended in epidemiological week 34 (week ending August 26, 2023).
View Article and Find Full Text PDFCanada's 2022-2023 national influenza epidemic was declared in epidemiological week 43 (week ending October 29, 2022), relatively early in comparison to historical seasons. This year marks the return to pre-pandemic-like influenza circulation, following the brief and delayed influenza epidemic declared in the spring of the 2021-2022 season. To date this season, 59,459 detections of influenza have been reported out of 456,536 tests; both values exceeding historical averages.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFCanadian seasonal influenza circulation had been suppressed since the beginning of the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic. This suppression was reported globally and generated concern that the return of community influenza circulation could be intense and that co-circulation of influenza and severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) was possible and potentially severe. Community circulation of influenza returned to Canada during the 2021-2022 influenza season.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFInfluenza Other Respir Viruses
March 2022
Stringent public health measures imposed across Canada to control the COVID-19 pandemic have nearly suppressed most seasonal respiratory viruses, with the notable exception of human rhinovirus/enterovirus (hRV/EV). Thanks to this unexpected persistence, we highlight that hRV/EV could serve as a sentinel for levels of contact rate in populations to inform on the efficiency, or the need of, public health measures to control the subsequent COVID-19 epidemic, but also for future epidemics from other seasonal or emerging respiratory pathogens.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFCan Commun Dis Rep
October 2021
During the 2020-2021 Canadian influenza season, no community circulation of influenza occurred. Only 69 positive detections of influenza were reported, and influenza percent positivity did not exceed 0.1%.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground: The ongoing coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic has resulted in implementation of public health measures worldwide to mitigate disease spread, including; travel restrictions, lockdowns, messaging on handwashing, use of face coverings and physical distancing. As the pandemic progresses, exceptional decreases in seasonal respiratory viruses are increasingly reported. We aimed to evaluate the impact of the pandemic on laboratory confirmed detection of seasonal non-SARS-CoV-2 respiratory viruses in Canada.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFCanada's national influenza season typically starts in the latter half of November (week 47) and is defined as the week when at least 5% of influenza tests are positive and a minimum of 15 positive tests are observed. As of December 12, 2020 (week 50), the 2020-2021 influenza season had not begun. Only 47 laboratory-confirmed influenza detections were reported from August 23 to December 12, 2020; an unprecedentedly low number, despite higher than usual levels of influenza testing.
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