COVID-19, declared a global pandemic by the World Health Organization, has caused governments to react swiftly with a variety of measures to quell the spread of the virus. This study investigates changes in waste disposal characteristics and the relationship between the mass of biomedical waste disposed and new COVID-19 tests performed in Regina, Canada. Results suggest that between May and September 2020, significant differences in the median amount of waste disposed exist. The amount of monthly waste disposed was slightly lower to about 450–550 tonnes/month. Monthly waste data variability, however, was significantly lower. Seasonal effects on total waste disposal is observed, but is less obvious than pre-COVID time. Furthermore, the distribution of different waste fractions varies, probably due to operational and industrial characteristics. A non-linear relationship exists between the number of COVID-19 tests performed and the mass of biomedical waste disposed, perhaps due to a lagged relationship between biomedical waste generation and disposal.

被世界卫生组织宣布为全球大流行病的 COVID-19 已促使各国政府迅速采取各种措施来遏制病毒的传播。本研究调查了废物处理特征的变化，以及处理的生物医学废物质量与在加拿大里贾纳进行的新 COVID-19 测试之间的关系。结果表明，在 2020 年 5 月至 2020 年 9 月期间，垃圾处理量的中位数存在显着差异。每月处理的垃圾量略低于 450-550 吨/月。然而，每月废物数据的可变性要低得多。观察到对总废物处理量的季节性影响，但不如 COVID 前时间明显。此外，不同废物部分的分布各不相同，这可能是由于操作和工业特征。