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April 16, 2021DEATH COUNTS AND EXCESS MORTALITY, JANUARY 2021 The first death attributed to COVID-19 in Canada was reported in British Columbia occurring on March 8, 2020. COVID-19 has caused the death of 23,500 people in Canada.
Statistics Canada has provided provisional information on deaths in Canada up to February 6, 2021. This includes deaths attributable to all causes; fluctuations from one week to the next may be attributable to many different causes of death. The data does not include all deaths that occurred during the reference period. Of note, information is not complete for recent weeks in Nova Scotia (up to January 9), New Brunswick (to December 26), Ontario (to January 2), Manitoba (to November 28) and Saskatchewan (to January 23). With limited information from larger provinces, national estimates are available up to January 9.
A comparison of deaths in 2020 and 2021 with the number of deaths reported in similar weeks in previous years allows highlights whether mortality is higher than usually observed at that time of year. The number of deaths reported in each week is represented below as a ratio of deaths per 1 million residents (population as of July 1 of the year - for 2021 the population as of July 1, 2020 is used). Based on observed historical trends, Statistics Canada has also estimated the expected number of deaths for each week and compared this with observed deaths (adjusted where possible reflecting provisional data). Estimates of expected deaths are presented with a 95 per cent confidence interval.
There was a period of excess mortality in April and early May, concentrated in Quebec, Ontario, Alberta and British Columbia. There were also elevated deaths in Nova Scotia in the week ending April 25; Statistics Canada notes that deaths due to COVID-19 were reported in that week, but the total was affected by lives lost in the mass shooting on April 18-19. From May to July, the levels of deaths in all provinces fell.
In the most current data, excess deaths were apparent in New Brunswick (November), Quebec (November-January), Ontario (November-December), Manitoba (November), Saskatchewan (December), Alberta (October-January) and British Columbia (November-December). Deaths were consistent with expected levels based on recent years in Newfoundland and Labrador, Prince Edward Island and Nova Scotia.
Source: Statistics Canada. Table 13-10-0768-01 Weekly death counts, by age group and sex; Table 13-10-0784-01 Adjusted number of deaths, expected number of deaths and estimates of excess mortality, by week
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