June 29, 2021 - Global News

Canada’s COVID-19 death toll could be thousands higher than official count: report

By: Leslie Young

In a new report published Tuesday by the Royal Society of Canada, researchers estimate that between Feb. 1 and Nov. 28, 2020, around 6,000 deaths of people aged 45 and older caused directly by COVID-19 have gone uncounted in the official statistics. In total, around two-thirds of COVID-19’s real death toll may have been missed, the report suggests.

Dr. Samir Sinha, NIA Director of Health Policy Research says “We’re talking about thousands and thousands of Canadians who silently died,” he said. “And their loved ones probably think they died because they might have had a heart attack or they might have had a stroke or they might have had a fall, for example. But unbeknown to them is, their loved one did die of COVID-19.”