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COVID-19 Data Inventory

HDRN Canada Member Organizations hold and manage population-level health and health-related data that are used by hundreds of expert analysts and researchers across Canada. This inventory provides information about the availability of COVID-19-related data resources to support researchers interested in conducting multi-regional research. Access to these resources will accelerate and improve the quality of COVID-19 analytics, predictive models and research studies that include multiple provinces and territories.

HDRN Canada is working with a number of partners to identify COVID-19 data gaps and needs in order to further support multi-regional research. We are identifying opportunities to facilitate more timely and complete access to health administrative data; supporting data standardization, integration and linkage across regions; and filling data and information gaps. To facilitate this, HDRN Canada has:

  • engaged with the Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR), national cohort studies, and networks such as the Canadian Primary Care Sentinel Surveillance Network to accelerate Canada’s response to COVID-19.
  • Partnered with the International COVID-19 Data Research Alliance and Workbench, a coordinated international platform to support the rapid development of insights and treatments to combat the global effects of COVID-19; and
  • Collaborated with Canadian Partnership for Tomorrow’s Health (CanPath) to support research teams interested in leveraging linked data, including COVID-19-related data from CanPath’s COVID-19 Questionnaire and provincial data centres.

HDRN Canada facilitates access to COVID-19-related data through its Data Access Support Hub (DASH). To date, DASH has supported five COVID-19-related projects and research funding proposals by providing researchers with cost estimates and feasibility assessments. DASH has facilitated multi-regional COVID-19-related research in a wide range of domains including emergency medicine, surgery, pediatric diabetes, neonatal care and virtual care. Learn more and request access to multi-regional data by visiting DASH.

COVID-19 Data Access

HDRN Canada is well placed to facilitate access to COVID-19 related data through its Data Access Support Hub (DASH)

  • To date, DASH has supported five (5) COVID-19 related projects and research funding proposals by providing researchers with cost estimates and feasibility assessments.
  • DASH has been facilitating multi-jurisdictional COVID-19 related research in a wide range of domains including emergency medicine, surgery, pediatric diabetes, neonatal care and virtual care.

To learn more and to request access to multi-jurisdictional data, please visit HDRN Canada’s Data Access Support Hub (DASH).

Data Holdings

Click on each of the check marks to view additional details about the dataset(s) available.
COVID-19 Related Dataset BC AB SK MB ON QC NB NS PE NL YK NT NU
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Member Organizations

Information on Population Data BC support for COVID-19 research can be found on their website. Click here.

The Michael Smith Foundation for Health Research (MSFHR) has funded 10 COVID-19 rapid response proposals, some of which will be utilizing administrative data through Population Data BC. A full list of the funded MSFHR COVID-19 proposals can be found here.

The COVID-19 Tracker is an interactive tool created to help ensure Albertans and Canadians quickly see COVID-related changes in their area.

The Alberta SPOR SUPPORT Unit (ABSPORU) and the University of Calgary Cumming School of Medicine through an initiative of the University of Calgary COVID-19 Advisory Group, created the only real-time tracker in Canada. With the ultimate goal of providing the best available data through an interactive and comprehensible dashboard, Albertans and Canadians can see data from the beginning of March 2020, to current day. Presenting information along with key events (i.e. non-essential services closed, schools opening), shows how changes in policies have influenced cases in real-time.

HQC does not have access to any COVID-19-related data, but the Government of Saskatchewan has COVID-19 data available on their public website. Click here.

CIHI is leading multiple pan-Canadian COVID-related activities, including exploring opportunities for access to near real-time hospital utilization data—aggregate and record level. The best resource for all CIHI-led work is their COVID-19 Resources page; links to select key resources are/will be included below.

WHO approved ICD codes for use in Canada:

CIHI has updated its data and reporting on a number of topics related to COVID-19, including:

On July 8, 2021, CIHI released updated statistics highlighting the impact of COVID-19 on Canada’s health care systems. The update includes new data on hospital services, emergency department services and physician services.

On March 25, 2021, CIHI released its most recent COVID-19 hospitalization and emergency department statistics, which includes data up to November 2020, and reports on length of stay, ICU admissions, and estimated cost of COVID-19 hospital stays in Canada.

On March 3, 2021, CIHI issued direction and resources to help clinicians ensure that data supports monitoring of post COVID-19 conditions, including clinical scenario, definition and suggested documentation.

On February 25, 2021, CIHI provided updated data on COVID-19 cases and deaths in health care workers in Canada, which shows that health care workers continue to be at risk for contracting the virus.

On February 18, 2021, CIHI updated its interactive tool COVID-19 Intervention Timeline in Canada and COVID-19 Intervention Scan, which provide updated information on case finding/management, openings and closures, physical distancing measures, health workforce capacity, among others.

On November 19, CIHI released a report on impact of COVID-19 on Canada’s health care systems. The report examines the impact of wave 1 of COVID-19 pandemic on emergency department visits, access to hospital care including surgeries and intensive care units, how Canadians received care from physicians, and assessments of home care clients.

On November 12, CIHI issued direction for 2 new ICD-10-CA codes for post COVID-19 condition and personal history of COVID-19

On September 10, 2020, CIHI launched an interactive tool that showcases Canada’s response to COVID-19 through a focused, customizable timeline of key interventions. Explore CIHI’s interactive COVID-19 timeline to see when Canada’s federal, provincial and territorial governments implemented key interventions in response to changing COVID-19 case counts.  Users can create a customized timeline of COVID-19 interventions and daily case counts, with a focus on a jurisdiction, time period and type of intervention. Interventions in the timeline link back to CIHI’s COVID-19 Intervention Scan, which provides more details and links to official sources.

On September 3, 2020, CIHI released data on COVID-19 cases and deaths among health care workers. This data can help ministries of health, professional associations and others to better understand the impact of COVID-19 on the health workforce.

On August 24 2020, CIHI released NACRS Emergency Department Visits: Comparison of January to March 2019 and January to March 2020 on its website. This report highlights a sharp drop in visits to Emergency Departments across all participating provinces and territories and across all age groups, starting in the second week of March 2020, compared to the same period in the previous year. One explanation of this drop may be due to fear of COVID-19 that deterred Canadians from the emergency room, despite having very severe symptoms.

On July 30, 2020, CIHI released COVID-19 Hospitalization and Emergency Department Statistics, 2019-2020 on its website.

CIHI disseminated on July 24, 2020 a discussion document that provides comprehensive information on measuring health inequalities across racialized groups in Canada, in response to the urgent call to understand COVID-19 pandemic impact within racialized communities. The document includes the proposed standards and detailed considerations for the appropriate collection and use of race-based, ethnic and Indigenous identity information to measure, monitor and address health inequalities.

CIHI has developed a new model to help identify population cohorts at risk of hospitalization for severe respiratory illnesses (e.g., pneumonia) and COVID-19. An overview of the model is included in this information sheet released on June 18, 2020.

CIHI is maintaining a comprehensive scan of federal, provincial and territorial government interventions, announcements and other measures to reduce the spread of and improve health outcomes related to COVID-19. The scan will be updated regularly and can be used to support COVID-19 research and analysis. It includes information about case finding and management, openings and closures, physical distancing, health workforce, health services and other measures.

Rapid analysis of at-risk populations in long term care and home care, resulting in a decision support algorithm for care providers, to support more immediate health system planning. CIHI released the COVID-19 comorbidity count algorithms for home care residents and long-term care residents to data providers and key stakeholders in April 2020. These are available upon request from CIHI at help@cihi.ca.

A series of new data tables and analyses to monitor and analyze health system activity over time, demonstrating the baseline capacity and the subsequent the impact of COVID-19, sourcing multiple CIHI datasets (e.g., acute, ED, LTC, home care, physician billing, drugs). Specific products and release dates TBD.

Update to CIHI case grouping methodologies with COVID codes and looking at Population Grouper for forecasting (available: tentative end of April)

ICES has published the report, Vaccine Coverage by Neighbourhood COVID-19 Risk in Immigrants, Refugees, and other Newcomers, up to April 26, 2021.

The ICES COVID-19 Dashboard provides an overview of the sociodemographic and clinical characteristics of individuals tested and confirmed positive for COVID-19 in Ontario. The dashboard is updated on a weekly basis. Learn more

As of May 2020, data include daily COVID test data linkable to the ICES data repository, including weekly feeds of hospitalization and emergency department data.

As of early June, ICES is receiving a weekly data feed from eCTAS (Electronic Canadian Triage and Acuity Scale).

ICES’ Code for cleaning COVID-19 lab test results available under open source licence. Click here. This code was developed through a collaborative effort by ICES and the Ministry of Health to identify COVID-19 cases in Ontario lab data consistently and accurately.

ICES has also made available open source code that enables a practical approach for population data quality assessment. The DataFit Toolkit is available here.

ICES published a public-facing report on COVID-19 testing in Ontario and associated dashboard that provides an overview of the sociodemographic and clinical characteristics of individuals tested and confirmed positive for COVID-19 in Ontario.

Testing data on individuals who tested for COVID-19 in New Brunswick is now available. Additional information can be found by entering “COVID-19 Case Data” in the search bar on NB-IRDT’s website.

NB-IRDT is also performing COVID-19 related studies/work:

  • Rapid response report on COVID-19 predictive modelling in New Brunswick: March 31, 2020 and April 14, 2020 – Open data (multiple sources) – NB
  • Rapid response report on dedicated resources for COVID-19: April 8, 2020 – Open data (PHAC) – NB
  • Rapid response report on lifting restrictions for COVID-19: April 16, 2020 – Open data (multiple sources) – NB

A project entitled “Planning for Community Resiliency in Recovery from COVID-19 in NB” was just funded by the New Brunswick Health Research Foundation/New Brunswick Innovation Foundation through a call for proposals on COVID-19 research.

Planning for Community Resiliency in Recovery from COVID-19

Survey Results on Mental Health Impacts of COVID 19 in New Brunswick

  • COVID-19 Public Health Surveillance Application: designed for public health nurses to have a clinical documentation system to track suspected and confirmed cases of the virus. Built using VB.Net with an SQL Server Database, has already been shared with other provinces. Data capture includes COVID test results plus functionality for documenting contact tracing, travel exposure, risk factors, outcomes, symptoms, etc. NLCHI developed the application and has shared it with sites in ON (one site), BC (two sites trialing).
  • Provincial dashboard has been developed using data collected in the COVID Public Health tool and is automatically refreshed as data is entered into the tool. Dashboard also includes other available data (e.g. on hospitalizations) for individuals captured in the tool. The first release of the dashboard will include metrics such as cases by age and sex; daily, cumulative and active cases; # in self isolation; # hospitalizations, # deaths. The second release, will include additional information on symptoms, exposure, PUIs etc.
  • Employee Management Application: designed to assist Regional Health Authorities in managing employee exposure and or symptoms of the virus. Data capture includes COVID test results, employee demographics and work relationships, date absent and date of potential return, OHS call backs to employees, self-isolation or self-quarantine dates, and additional notes. Employee Application has been merged with Public Health Application. Separate provincial dashboard being developed with metrics from HR/OH&S perspective.
  • Swab Test Referral Application: designed to allow clinical telephone triage of patients into scheduling workflow for appointment booking. It is being used by both public health and occupational health in NL.
  • Negative Test Online Portal for Patients: secure website where patients can log in to see their negative test results (positive results are not currently available).
  • Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) Dashboard (New supply chain data developed in response to COVID-19). Captures N95, sanitizer, glove, mask, gowns and other info.
  • PPE Electronic Ordering Form
  • Virtual Care Telehealth Electronic Account Request Form: expedites the account request/approval/creation process for physicians wanting to use NL Virtual Care Telehealth program.
  • Virtual Care In Home Appointment Application: developed to allow physicians to easily schedule in home appointments with patients using the provincial telehealth technology platform.
  • COVID Lab Dashboard: Real-time view of testing being performed for Covid-19. Metrics on testing and results. Includes breakdown by RHA, age and sex and trending.
  • Assessment/Testing Clinics Dashboard: Includes number of scheduled appts, attended appts, canceled appt and no shows for COVID assessment & testing clinics. New clinics added as they come on.
  • Influenza Like Illness (ILI) Dashboard: Will provide ER visits and admits for ILI, daily trending, all ERs province wide.
  • COVID-19 Data Hub: An online resource which provides accurate and timely information and data about the COVID-19 pandemic. The COVID-19 Data Hub is a partnership between NLCHI, the Department of Fisheries and Land Resources and the NL Stats Agency. This page is updated daily and includes an interactive map of the distribution of COVID-19 cases across the province, graphs displaying the spread of the virus, and information on the number of cases, hospitalization, recoveries, deaths, and tests completed. ESRI named this initiative their app for the month for May.
  • Acute Care Report (Currently hardcopy 2x daily, automated dashboard under development): Inpatient and Critical Care Occupancy, Ventilator Usage, Admissions with Suspected COVID infections, Admissions with Confirmed COVID infections, discharges and deaths; number of employees on self-isolation, employees with confirmed COVID infections, number of employees recovered.

COVID-19: A Data Perspective: A central repository of the latest Statistics Canada COVID-19 releases and updates covering from health, social to economics impact of the COVID-19 pandemic in Canada.

COVID-19 in Canada: A One-year Update on Social and Economic Impacts – Marking the 1 year since the COVID-19 pandemic was announced in Canada, this compilation provides a summary of the key health, social and economic impacts on Canadians.  This product builds on The Social and Economic Impacts of COVID-19: A Six-Month Update (11-631-X2020004)    released in October 2020 .

Provisional weekly estimates of the number of deaths, expected number of deaths and excess mortality: Interactive Tool –  This dashboard presents data that are relevant for monitoring the impacts of COVID-19 on mortality in Canada. It includes updated adjusted and expected weekly death counts produced for the 2020 reference year, from the Canadian Vital Statistics: Death database (CVS:D)

Canadians’ Health and COVID-19: Interactive Dashboard – This dashboard presents selected health indicators for the Canadian population living in the ten provinces related to the COVID-19 pandemic. The indicators of health included show how Canadians rate their current mental health compared to before the pandemic – worse, the same, or better. It also shows what percentage of Canadians reported taking various precautions to protect against COVID-19, what percentage indicated having received a test for COVID, as well as the rate of those somewhat or very likely to get a vaccine. The data for this dashboard are based on the Canadian Community Health Survey, a annual population health survey that was adapted during the COVID-19 pandemic to produce more timely estimates with new content related to the evolving situation.

StatCan COVID-19: Data Insights for a Better Canada: Contains over 60 research articles written by Statistics Canada on COVID-19. Some recent examples:

  • The Daily — Provisional death counts and excess mortality, January to September 2020. This contains both the counts/excess mortality and the list of tables associated with the release can be found under Tables.
  • Food insecurity during the COVID-19 pandemic, May 2020 (Released July 9, 2020): The COVID-19 pandemic has brought major changes to the financial stability of Canadians, with extensive job loss and reduced hours of work. Experts in food insecurity have signalled that the financial impacts of this pandemic could lead to an increase in the number of Canadians living in a situation of food insecurity
  • Gender differences in mental health during the COVID-19 pandemic (Released July 9, 2020): Using data collected through a crowdsource questionnaire from April 24 to May 11, 2020, this article compares the mental health of male, female, and gender-diverse participants during the COVID-19 pandemic. Four different measures of mental health are considered:  self-rated mental health, changes in mental health since physical distancing began, symptoms consistent with generalized anxiety disorder in the two weeks prior to completing the questionnaire, and life stress.
  • Willingness of Canadians to use a contact tracing application (Released July 31, 2020): This article examines the willingness of Canadians to use tracing applications, whether or not they feel comfortable sharing the data with government officials, and reasons why they would not use the applications. Additionally, differences on these perceptions and reasons of using or not using tracing applications are explored by demographic characteristics including region, sex, and age
  • The COVID-19 pandemic and its impacts on Canadian victim services (Released July 30, 2020): This study on the The COVID-19 pandemic and its impacts on Canadian victim services examines the experiences of Canadian victim services during the COVID-19 pandemic. This study is based on a survey carried out in June and July, 2020, which asked a sample of victim services about the changes that they had experienced in the number of victims they had served, factors that affected their ability to provide services, and how they had adapted their operations in order to continue to serve victims.

COVID-19 Epidemiological Reports 

  • In collaboration with the Public Health Agency of Canada (PHAC), this data provides Canadians and researchers with preliminary data to monitor only the confirmed cases of coronavirus (COVID-19) in Canada. Given the rapidly-evolving nature of this situation, these data are considered preliminary.

Canadian Perspectives Survey Series Releases

  • The CPSS is designed to produce data at a national level (excluding the territories). Initially, the CPSS focused on topics related to the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic on Canadians. Other topics will also be added to the series to meet the emerging data needs of a variety of users.
  • Statistics Canada analysis, articles, publications, data tables utilizing or referencing the Canadian Perspectives Survey Series data can be found here.
  • Note: Additional CPSS research articles and analytical products can also be found in Data Insights for a Better Canada and Health Reports.

Other details:

Impacts of COVID-19 on Canadians Crowdsourcing Series

  • The collection series collects data on the current economic and social situation, as well as on people’s physical and mental health, to effectively assess the needs of communities and implement suitable support measures during and after the pandemic.
  • Statistics Canada analysis, articles, publications, data tables utilizing or referencing the Impacts of COVID-19 on Canadians Crowdsourcing Series data can be found here.
  • Note: Additional research articles and analytical products using data from this collection series can be found in Data Insights for a Better Canada and Health Reports.

Other details:

Health Reports

A peer-reviewed journal of population health and health services research. It is designed for a broad audience that includes health professionals, researchers, policymakers, and the general public. Some recent examples:

Repository of Statistics Canada Infographics: Includes links to Statistics Canada infographics, including over 14 infographics related to COVID-19 and growing.

Canadian Economic Dashboard and COVID-19: A visual tool for various Statistics Canada economic indicators for monitoring the impacts of COVID-19.

Partners

The Canadian Partnership for Tomorrow’s Health (CanPath) is Canada’s largest population health cohort and a national platform for health research. From May to December 2020, CanPath collected over 95,000 participant responses to its COVID-19 Questionnaire. The nationally harmonized COVID-19 Questionnaire dataset is now available to researchers.

Data collected through the survey include self-reported COVID-19 test results/suspected infection, symptoms experienced (if any), current health status and risk factors, potential sources of exposure, lifestyle and behaviours (alcohol use, tobacco use etc.), impact of the pandemic on job status, and impact of the pandemic on mental, emotional, social and financial well-being.

Given the immediate need for pandemic research, requests for access to the national COVID-19 Questionnaire dataset, as well as accompanying baseline and follow-up cohort data, will be reviewed in as little as 9 business days.

Learn more about CanPath’s COVID-19 Initiatives.

Learn more about accessing CanPath data.

The Canadian Longitudinal Study on Aging (CLSA) is a large, national, long-term study of more than 50,000 individuals who were between the ages of 45 and 85 when recruited. These participants will be followed until 2033 or death. The aim of the CLSA is to find ways to help us live long and live well, and understand why some people age in healthy fashion while others do not.

In response to coronavirus, the CLSA has developed three sub-studies to explore the impacts of SARS-CoV-2.

Launched April 15, 2020, the CLSA COVID-19 Questionnaire Study collected data from 28,559 CLSA participants on a weekly/biweekly and monthly basis to understand the epidemiology of COVID-19 among older adults living in Canada. This data includes information on COVID-19 symptoms and status, risk factors, healthcare use, health behaviours, psychosocial and economic consequence of the pandemic. Data from the CLSA COVID-19 Questionnaire Study are now available for access by approved researchers. Learn more about the COVID-19 Questionnaire Study.

In fall 2020, a partnership with the Government of Canada’s COVID-19 Immunity Task Force launched the CLSA COVID-19 Antibody Study. This study collects and analyzes blood samples from more than 19,000 CLSA participants in 10 provinces to better understand how widespread SARS-CoV-2 infection is among adults over age 50.

A third study, funded by the Canadian Institutes of Health Research and the Weston Brain Institute, will be launched in 2021 to examine the impacts of SARS-CoV-2 on brain health.

Learn more about CLSA data collection and questionnaires.

Learn more about the COVID-19 Questionnaire Study Data Dashboard.

Learn more about accessing CLSA data.

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