I believe the deaths are still low. But the numbers seem slightly higher due to a lot many data corrections by different provinces in the past few weeks / month or so.
How bad is Canada’s 4th COVID-19 wave getting? Here’s a look at the data
Canada is now fully in the grips of a fourth wave of the
COVID-19 pandemic, which data is suggesting could be more dramatic than past surges of the virus thanks to the highly contagious Delta variant.
Provinces and territories are now reporting more than 3,000 new COVID-19 cases every day — a sharp turn from the plateau earlier this summer.
Friday marked the highest daily increase since May 24 of this year, with 3,755 new infections. The case count outpaced those reported on Wednesday and Thursday, which were also over 3,000. The last time cases were that high for a three-day stretch was the week of May 24.
Over the past week, over 20,000 new cases were reported — a seven-day average of nearly 2,934, the highest since May 31.
It marks a 640-per cent jump from the low of 396 cases per day on average in July, which had not been seen in nearly a year, before the start of the second wave last summer.
The increase is the sharpest from a plateau than at any other point in the pandemic, where past waves have seen more gradual spikes over the same period of time.
As with past waves, hospitalizations have begun to spike again as well. Thursday marked the first time since June that more than 1,000 patients were reported in hospital across the country. As of Friday, that number has climbed to 1,046.
Although the seven-day average sits around 900, that only reflects how sharply hospitalizations are rising. Over the past week, 300 more patients were admitted, adding to the over 700 already receiving care.
About 350 of the patients currently in hospital are in intensive care, according to provincial data.
Deaths have been somewhat harder to quantify, as some provinces — notably Ontario and Quebec — have recently reported fatalities that occurred earlier in the pandemic due to data corrections. But signs are pointing to an uptick similar to past waves.
While an average of about seven people were dying per day during this summer’s plateau, the average has now climbed back into the double digits. Twenty-six new deaths were reported Friday, 17 of them in Ontario alone.