OTTAWA —
Statistics Canada says greater than 19,000 Canadians misplaced their lives throughout COVID-19 than would have been anticipated had the pandemic by no means occurred.
The report highlights the lethal toll COVID-19 has taken straight and not directly on Canadian lives.
In accordance with provisional information, roughly 19,488 extra Canadians died between March 2020 and July 2021 than would have been anticipated.
That is 5.2 per cent extra deaths than if the pandemic by no means occurred.
Throughout that time-frame, Statistics Canada says that whereas 25,465 folks died as a direct consequence of contracting the virus, the pandemic additionally delayed medical procedures and led to an increase in substance use, which might even have contributed to the variety of deaths.
On the flip facet, some lives could have been spared by different causes, together with public well being measures that prevented influenza from spreading as traditional final 12 months.
The numbers do not mirror all of the deaths that occurred as some are nonetheless being investigated, so the information could under-represent the true variety of deaths attributed to sure causes, together with suicides.
They’ve additionally been adjusted to account for adjustments within the inhabitants, resembling growing old.
The best variety of deaths occurred within the spring and autumn of 2020.
There was not a big variety of additional deaths between mid-January 2021 and the top of July 2021, in response to the company, although COVID-19 claimed 6,255 lives in Canada throughout that point.
Nevertheless, some provinces, together with Ontario, Saskatchewan, Alberta and British Columbia, have been an exception.
British Columbia and Alberta additionally noticed extra folks dying than sometimes anticipated this previous summer season when a warmth wave settled over each provinces.
Statistics Canada expects to launch a extra complete image of what number of extra folks have died on account of the pandemic by the top of November.
This report by The Canadian Press was first printed Nov. 8, 2021.
