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November 08, 2021DEATH COUNTS AND EXCESS MORTALITY, AUGUST 2021 The first death attributed to COVID-19 in Canada was reported in British Columbia occurring on March 8, 2020. As of November 8, 2021 the Public Health Agency of Canada's daily epidemiology update reported that COVID-19 has caused the death of 29,132 people in Canada.
Statistics Canada has provided provisional information on deaths in Canada up to September 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 September 4; only Newfoundland and Labrador, Alberta and British Columbia have reported to this date. Information is not complete for recent weeks in:
- Prince Edward Island (to August 28)
- Nova Scotia (to July 17)
- New Brunswick (to July 31)
- Quebec (to August 21)
- Ontario (to June 26)
- Manitoba (to January 2)
- Saskatchewan (to August 21)
With limited information from several provinces, national estimates are available up to July 10.
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.
In the data for the summer of 2021, most provinces reported deaths that were consistent with prior years and with expected deaths for that time of year. The notable exceptions are in Alberta and British Columbia, particularly at the end of June when heat related events coincided with a large increase in the number of reported deaths. Both Alberta and British Columbia also reported elevated mortality in the last two weeks of August and first week of September.
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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