The levels of COVID-19 in the Boston area appear to be dropping from historic highs, according to the latest update from its sewer system.

New data unveiled Tuesday showed the level of COVID dropping back down to where it was on Dec. 30. While that's only two weeks ago, and still higher than any point before this winter, it's still down nearly half from peak levels and could indicate that the current surge is subsiding.

The Massachusetts Water Resources Authority's tracking system, run by Cambridge-based Biobot, works by analyzing bits of genetic material in the Boston area's sewers to indicate how much of the virus is circulating in the community.

As of Tuesday, when data was available through Jan. 11, COVID levels were averaging about 6,000 RNA copies of COVID per milliliter and trending down from a peak near 10,000.