COVID-19 Reproduction Number (R(t))

This file contains data regarding a 7-day average of the estimated instantaneous reproduction number, R(t), of COVID-19 in Ottawa. The reproduction number, R, is the average number of secondary cases of disease caused by a single infected individual over his or her infectious period. R(t) values greater than 1 indicate the virus is spreading faster and each case infects more than one contact, and less than 1 indicates the spread is slowing and the epidemic is coming under control.

R(t) was calculated using the EpiEstim package, developed by Cori et al. (2013; DOI: 10.1093/aje/kwt133), in the R software environment for statistical computing and graphics. Accurate episode date was used as the time anchor and cases were assigned as having a local or travel-related source of infection.

Accuracy: Points of consideration for interpretation of the data:

  • Data are entered into and extracted by Ottawa Public Health from la Solution de gestion des cas et des contacts pour la santé publique (Solution GCC). The CCM is a dynamic disease reporting system that allows for ongoing updates; data represent a snapshot at the time of extraction and may differ from previous or subsequent reports.
  • As the cases are investigated and more information is available, the dates are updated.
  • A person’s exposure may have occurred up to 14 days prior to onset of symptoms. Symptomatic cases occurring in approximately the last 14 days are likely under-reported due to the time for individuals to seek medical assessment, availability of testing, and receipt of test results.
  • Confirmed cases are those with a confirmed COVID-19 laboratory result as per the Ministry of Health Public health management of cases and contacts of COVID-19 in Ontario. March 25, 2020 version 6.0.
  • Counts will be subject to varying degrees of underreporting due to a variety of factors, such as disease awareness and medical care seeking behaviours, which may depend on severity of illness, clinical practice, changes in laboratory testing, and reporting behaviours.
  • Surveillance testing for COVID-19 began in long term care facilities on April 25, 2020.
Attributes: Data fields:
  • Date – the earliest of symptom onset, test or reported date for cases (YYYY-MM-DD H:MM).
  • Lower Bound - 95% Confidence Interval - lower bound of the 95% confidence interval for the 7-day average of the R(t) estimate. 
  • Upper Bound - 95% Confidence Interval - upper bound of the 95% confidence interval for the 7-day average of the R(t) estimate.

  • Estimate of R(t) (7 Day Average) - 7-day average of the estimated instantaneous reproduction number, R(t), of COVID-19 in Ottawa. 
  • Nowcasting Adjusted Cases by Episode Date – number of Ottawa residents with confirmed COVID-19 by episode date. Counts for the most recent 14 days represent a nowcasting adjusted estimate developed by R. Imgrund in 2020. The model uses linear regression to estimate the number of future cases expected to have an accurate episode date within that 14-day window.
Update Frequency: As of March 2022, the dataset is no longer updated.  Historical data only.

Contact: OPH Epidemiology Team

Datasets available for download

Additional Info

Field Value
Last Updated June 16, 2026, 17:24 (UTC)
Created June 16, 2026, 17:24 (UTC)
Domain / Topic
Domain or topic of the dataset being cataloged.
Title
Title for the Dataset.
COVID-19 Reproduction Number (R(t))
Description
A description of the dataset.

This file contains data regarding a 7-day average of the estimated instantaneous reproduction number, R(t), of COVID-19 in Ottawa. The reproduction number, R, is the average number of secondary cases of disease caused by a single infected individual over his or her infectious period. R(t) values greater than 1 indicate the virus is spreading faster and each case infects more than one contact, and less than 1 indicates the spread is slowing and the epidemic is coming under control.

R(t) was calculated using the EpiEstim package, developed by Cori et al. (2013; DOI: 10.1093/aje/kwt133), in the R software environment for statistical computing and graphics. Accurate episode date was used as the time anchor and cases were assigned as having a local or travel-related source of infection.

Accuracy: Points of consideration for interpretation of the data:

  • Data are entered into and extracted by Ottawa Public Health from la Solution de gestion des cas et des contacts pour la santé publique (Solution GCC). The CCM is a dynamic disease reporting system that allows for ongoing updates; data represent a snapshot at the time of extraction and may differ from previous or subsequent reports.
  • As the cases are investigated and more information is available, the dates are updated.
  • A person’s exposure may have occurred up to 14 days prior to onset of symptoms. Symptomatic cases occurring in approximately the last 14 days are likely under-reported due to the time for individuals to seek medical assessment, availability of testing, and receipt of test results.
  • Confirmed cases are those with a confirmed COVID-19 laboratory result as per the Ministry of Health Public health management of cases and contacts of COVID-19 in Ontario. March 25, 2020 version 6.0.
  • Counts will be subject to varying degrees of underreporting due to a variety of factors, such as disease awareness and medical care seeking behaviours, which may depend on severity of illness, clinical practice, changes in laboratory testing, and reporting behaviours.
  • Surveillance testing for COVID-19 began in long term care facilities on April 25, 2020.
Attributes: Data fields:
  • Date – the earliest of symptom onset, test or reported date for cases (YYYY-MM-DD H:MM).
  • Lower Bound - 95% Confidence Interval - lower bound of the 95% confidence interval for the 7-day average of the R(t) estimate. 
  • Upper Bound - 95% Confidence Interval - upper bound of the 95% confidence interval for the 7-day average of the R(t) estimate.

  • Estimate of R(t) (7 Day Average) - 7-day average of the estimated instantaneous reproduction number, R(t), of COVID-19 in Ottawa. 
  • Nowcasting Adjusted Cases by Episode Date – number of Ottawa residents with confirmed COVID-19 by episode date. Counts for the most recent 14 days represent a nowcasting adjusted estimate developed by R. Imgrund in 2020. The model uses linear regression to estimate the number of future cases expected to have an accurate episode date within that 14-day window.
Update Frequency: As of March 2022, the dataset is no longer updated.  Historical data only.

Contact: OPH Epidemiology Team

Tags / Keywords
Keywords/tags categorizing the dataset.
Format (CSV, XLS, TXT, PDF, etc)
File format of the dataset.
Dataset Size
Dataset size in megabytes.
80.0
Metadata Identifier
Metadata identifier – can be used as the unique identifier for catalogue entry
Published Date
Published date of the dataset.
2026-02-05
Time Period Data Span (start date)
Start date of the data in the dataset.
Time Period Data Span (end date)
End date of time data in the dataset.
GeoSpatial Area Data Span
A spatial region or named place the dataset covers.
Field Value
Access category
Type of access granted for the dataset (open, closed, service, etc).
public
License
License used to access the dataset.
https://ottawa.ca/en/city-hall/get-know-your-city/open-data#open-data-licence-version-2-0
Limits on use
Limits on use of data.
Location
Location of the dataset.
https://od-dev2-ottawa.opendata.arcgis.com/datasets/ottawa::covid-19-reproduction-number-rt
Data Service
Data service for accessing a dataset.
Owner
Owner of the dataset.
[email protected]
Contact Point
Who to contact regarding access?
City of Ottawa
Contact Point Email
The email to contact regarding access?
[email protected]
Publisher
Publisher of the dataset.
City of Ottawa
Publisher Email
Email of the publisher.
Author
Author of the dataset.
[email protected]
Author Email
Email of the author.
Accessed At
Date the data and metadata was accessed.
2026-02-05
Field Value
Identifier
Unique identifier for the dataset.
40b0b0056a634b72bf9f75d05a1ed7f3
Language
Language(s) of the dataset
English
Link to dataset description
A URL to an external document describing the dataset.
https://od-dev2-ottawa.opendata.arcgis.com/datasets/ottawa::covid-19-reproduction-number-rt
Persistent Identifier
Data is identified by a persistent identifier.
Globally Unique Identifier
Data is identified by a persistent and globally unique identifier.
Contains data about individuals
Does the data hold data about individuals?
Contains data about identifiable individuals
Does the data hold identifiable data about individual?
Contains Indigenous Data
Does the data hold data about Indigenous communities?
Portal Type
Platform type of the source portal.
Field Value
Version
Version of the datatset
None
Source
Source of the dataset.
None
Version notes
Version notes about the dataset.
Is version of another dataset
Link to dataset that it is a version of.
Other versions
Link to datasets that are versions of it.
Provenance Text
Provenance Text of the data.
City of Ottawa
Provenance URL
Provenance URL of the data.
Temporal resolution
Describes how granular the date/time data in the dataset is.
GeoSpatial resolution in meters
Describes how granular (in meters) geospatial data is in the dataset.
GeoSpatial resolution (in regions)
Describes how granular (in regions) geospatial data is in the dataset.
Field Value
Indigenous Community Permission
Who holds the Indigenous Community Permission. Who to contact regarding access to a dataset that has data about Indigenous communities.
Community Permission
Community permission (who gave permission).
The Indigenous communities the dataset is about
Indigenous communities from which data is derived.
Field Value
Number of data rows
If tabular dataset, total number of rows.
737
Number of data columns
If tabular dataset, total number of unique columns.
10
Number of data cells
If tabular dataset, total number of cells with data.
7370
Number of data relations
If RDF dataset, total number of triples.
Number of entities
If RDF dataset, total number of entities.
Number of data properties
If RDF dataset, total number of unique properties used by the triples.
Data quality
Describes the quality of the data in the dataset.
Metric for data quality
A metric used to measure the quality of the data, such as missing values or invalid formats.

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