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February 10, 2022DEATH COUNTS AND EXCESS MORTALITY, NOVEMBER 2021 The first death attributed to COVID-19 in Canada was reported in British Columbia occurring on March 8, 2020. As of February 10, 2022 the Public Health Agency of Canada's daily epidemiology update reported that COVID-19 has caused the death of 35,118 people in Canada.
Statistics Canada has provided provisional information on deaths in Canada up to December 4, 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. Not all provinces have reported their results up to December; only British Columbia have reported to this date. Information is not complete for recent weeks in:
- Newfoundland and Labrador (to November 20)
- Prince Edward Island (to November 27)
- Nova Scotia (to October 30)
- New Brunswick (to September 25)
- Quebec (to November 13)
- Ontario (to September 25)
- Manitoba (to February 6)
- Saskatchewan (to October 16)
- Alberta (to November 27)
With limited information from several provinces, national estimates are available up to October 16.
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). 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.
Most provinces reported deaths that were consistent with expected levels in recent data, though there were isolated weeks during which deaths rose above the upper bound of expected levels. Statistics Canada notes that Saskatchewan, Alberta and British Columbia reported elevated mortality from mid-August to the end of September. This coincides with an increase in COVID-19 deaths in these provinces during this period.
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; Public Health Agency of Canada. COVID-19 daily epidemiology update
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