Page last updated: December 4, 2023. This page is no longer regularly updated. If you require any updated descriptions of graphs or charts related to COVID-19, please don't hesitate to contact us.
As the Coronavirus disease (COVID-19) situation unfolds in Canada and around the world, news sites, public health agencies, universities and other organizations are publishing charts and graphs to explain data in easy to understand ways such as the flattening the curve model and the spread of the virus. Unfortunately, people with print disabilities or individuals with slower internet connections are generally left out of the loop since these images are inaccessible to assistive technologies or images cannot load properly due to a lack of bandwidth. NNELS believes that this information should be accessible to everyone. In order to fill this gap, we are providing this information in alternative accessible formats such as text descriptions and use of sonification tools by producing some key charts/graphs and linking to other resources with accessible information. Sonification refers to the use of sound other than speech to convey information such as the height of a bar or the curve of a line. While we will primarily be focusing on data relevant to Canada, some information may be helpful to international readers.
If you have any issues accessing the data or find any errors, please don't hesitate to contact us. You may wish to bookmark this page as it will be updated often with new information.
On this page:
- "Flattening the Curve" from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC)
- Epidemic Curve: COVID-19 cases in Canada by date of illness onset
- Distribution of COVID-19 cases in Canada by age and gender
- Number of hospital beds and ICU beds occupied by COVID-19 patients
- Number of active COVID-19 cases by province and territory
- Number of total COVID-19 cases by province and territory
- Number of COVID-19 deaths by province and territory
- Number of New Cases in Ontario, by Date
- Number of New Cases in Quebec, by Date
- COVID-19 in Canada: Using data and modelling to inform public health action
- Rate of Spread of New COVID-19 Cases by Location
- Accessible Instructions
- Accessible Videos
- Additional Resources
How to access the graphs and maps on this page
When exploring this page, you will find contextual information followed by a detailed text description. Below the description are links to the same data available in additional formats.
In order to access graphs and maps produced by NNELS, you will need access to Google Chrome, and have the SAS Accelerator extension.
Once the SAS accelerator is installed, select the sonification link. A new page will load displaying an optimized image of the visualization for low vision users, generated by SAS Accelerator, along with an "Accelerate" button. When you activate the button, a new view will load which allows you to now explore the graph or map auditorily.
If you are accessing a graph, press the arrow keys to explore individual pieces of data or press ‘v’ to switch to Scan Mode. In Scan Mode, you can press the left or right arrow key to have it play the entire data set. You can switch back into Explore Mode, which is the default setting when you load a graph, by typing ‘v’ again. If you are viewing a map, use your page up and page down keys to see all the locations around your position. By default, you are placed in the centre of the map. To obtain a list of additional keyboard commands Press 'h'. You can also tab to the "Settings" button to adjust verbosity and sound options. If there are issues with navigating the graph or the settings menu, please check to see if your screen reader's browse mode or its equivalent is turned off. Further documentation can be found on the SAS website.
For even more sonifications of data such as charts and maps, you may wish to check out the COVID-19 by the Numbers page from SAS and the A11Y COVID-19 project from the Smith-Kettlewell Research Institute.
"Flattening the Curve" from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC)
Image: Flattening the Curve from the CDC (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention). Retrieved from https://globalnews.ca/news/6665558/coronavirus-flatten-the-curve/
Flattening the curve refers to the concept that if everyone becomes ill around the same time, the healthcare system will be quickly overwhelmed and will unable to treat patients in need of care. If public health strategies are taken to reduce the spread of infection on any given day, hospitals will have the capacity to care for people who are sick.
Note that this graph is not country specific and will not change since there is no dynamic information.
Text Description:
A graph showing one line, running horizontally through the middle which represents the Health Care System Capacity, and two curves, one representing the cases without protective measures, and the other, representing Cases with protective measures, (the flattened curve). The Y-axis is labelled as "Daily number of cases and the "X-axis, is labeled as "Time since outbreak". There are no numbers on either axis.
The curve representing "Cases without protective measures" starts at the bottom left corner and steeply rises past the "Capacity of the healthcare" line to a sharp curve at the top of the graph where it then steeply drops back down to the bottom. This line is symmetrical and is in the shape of a triangle with a rounded peak. Note that as this curve descends to the right side, it intersects with the "Capacity of the healthcare" line and the line representing "Cases with protective measures" just before the curve begins to flatten. The line representing "cases with protective measures" starts at the bottom left corner, gradually increases at first, before rising slightly more steeply, where it stays just below the "capacity of the healthcare line", and flattens out, before it gradually goes back down to the bottom. This curve is shaped like a small hill or an arch that rises and falls gradually and equally on both sides.
Other Accessible Versions
- This graph is available auditorily using sonification with the Desmos Graphing Calculator, produced by Desmos.
- Video demonstrating the auditory sonification of flattening the curve graph. (This video was created by one of our accessibility testers. They are using a screen reader).
- It is also available as a Tactile graphic from the San Francisco Lighthouse for the Blind. Here is a folder with printing instructions for the tactile graphic.
Epidemic Curve
Data is based on 4,470,867 reported cases in Canada as of November 27, 2023.
***Important Note*** The shaded area in the graph (described below) represents a period of accumulating data where it is known or expected that cases and severe outcomes have occurred but have not yet been reported nationally.
Image: COVID-19 cases in Canada by date of illness onset (November 27, 2023). Retrieved from https://health-infobase.canada.ca/covid-19/current-situation.html#a4
Text Description
A bar graph with vertical bars depicting the COVID-19 cases in Canada by date of illness onset. The X-axis is labelled as "Date of Illness onset" (from January 15, 2020 to November 27, 2023) and the Y-axis is labeled as "Number of Reported Cases" which range from 0 to 300,000, in increments of 20,000. The graph has 7 peaks :
- a low peak, around 10,000 cases, in April of 2020;
- two higher peaks in December 2020 (around 55,000 cases) and April 2021 (just over 60,000 cases);
- a low peak in September 2021, around 30,000 cases; this peak drops to just under 20,000 in late October; and
- a peak starting in early December 2021 - peaking at around 310,000 cases in late December. This peak falls to just under 40,000 cases in March 2022.
- In March, 2022, the cases increase again, peaking at just over 60,000 in early-April before decreasing again;
- In June 2022, cases increase, peaking at just over 25,000 in July, before decreasing.
The graph’s background is partially shaded from mid-July 2022 to present, where the graph ends. This indicates a period of lag time where, according to the Government of Canada, cases may have occurred but have not yet been reported nationally. Visually, the dates on the X-axis are shown for every 4 weeks but there are bars for each week. Full data can be found on this page: Epidemic Curve: COVID-19 cases in Canada by date of illness onset - Table.
Other Accessible Versions
This Epidemic Curve graph is also available auditorily using sonification, here; (general instructions on how to access these charts can be found at the top of this page).
Distribution of COVID-19 cases in Canada by Age and Gender
Data is based on 4,454,824 reported cases in Canada as of November 27, 2023.
Note that due to lag times in data being reported, numbers should be used to observe trends and should not be taken as absolute.
Image: Age distribution of COVID-19 cases in Canada as of November 27, 2023. Retrieved from https://health-infobase.canada.ca/covid-19/current-situation.html#a5
Text Description
A graph with horizontal bars depicting the Age and gender distribution of COVID-19 cases. The Y-axis is labelled as "Age group (years)", and the X-axis is labelled as "Number (Proportion(%))", which range from 0 to 800,000 in increments of 100,000. Each bar has three colours: dark blue (for males), light blue (for females), and black (for other). Each portion of each bar shows the number of cases, and the proportion.
The graph shows:
- 0-11: just under 425,000 cases
- 12-19: just over 325,000 cases
- 20-29: just over 750,000 cases
- 30-39: just over 725,000 cases
- 40-49: just under 650,000 cases
- 50-59: just over 550,000 cases
- 60-69: just over 375,000 cases
- 70-79: just under 275,000 cases
- 80+ : just under 375,000 cases
For all age groups, the black (other) portion makes up less than a tenth of a percent of the proportion of cases. For ages up to 79, the dark blue (male) and light blue (female) proportions are roughly equal, from around 47-54% male, and 46-53% female. In the 80+ age group, males account for just over one-third of all cases.
Complete data can be read in this table: Age distribution of COVID-19 cases in Canada - Table.
Number of hospital beds and ICU beds occupied by COVID-19 patients
Daily number of hospital beds and ICU beds occupied by COVID-19 patients as of November 28, 2023.
Image: Daily number of hospital beds and ICU beds occupied by COVID-19 patients in Canada (November 28, 2023). Retrieved from https://health-infobase.canada.ca/covid-19/current-situation.html#a6
Text Description
A bar graph with vertical bars depicting the daily number of hospital beds and ICU beds occupied by COVID-19 patients in Canada. The X-axis shows months, from April 2020 to December, 2023, and the Y-axis shows the number of cases, which ranges from 0 to 11,000, in increments of 1,000. The graph has 8 peaks, and is currently increasing. It shows:
- a low peak, just over 3,000 cases, in April of 2020;
- two higher peaks in December 2020 and April 2021 (around 5,000 cases at each peak);
- a peak in October 2021, around 3,000 cases;
- a peak of around 11,000 cases in January 2022. This peak drops to around 5,000 in March 2022.
- It begins growing again, and peaks at around 7000 in April 2022, before beginning to decrease to around 3,500 in late June 2022.
- In August 2022, it peaks around 5,000, then decreases to around 4,000 in September.
- It increases to around 6,000 in October 2023, then steadily decreases, to around 2,000 in July, 2023.
- It is currently increasing, with the number of hospitalizations around 5,000.
Full data can be found on this page: Daily number of hospital beds and ICU beds occupied by COVID-19 patients in Canada - Table.
Other Accessible Versions
This Epidemic Curve graph is also available auditorily using sonification, here; (general instructions on how to access these charts can be found at the top of this page).
Number of COVID-19 cases by province and territory
Data is based on 4,820,444 cases in Canada as of November 18, 2023.
Note: The total number includes publicly reported confirmed and probable cases. Due to lag times in data being reported, numbers should be used to observe trends and should not be taken as absolute.
Image: Number of COVID-19 cases by province and territory (November 18, 2023). Retrieved from https://health-infobase.canada.ca/covid-19/current-situation.html?stat=num&measure=cases_total&map=pt#a2
Text Description
A map of Canada shows the number of confirmed cases by province, using progressively darker shades of blue for provinces with higher concentrations of cases. From darkest to lighest:
- 600,000 cases and higher: Alberta; Ontario; Quebec
- 150,000 to 599,999: British Columbia; Saskatchewan; Manitoba
- 125,000 to 149,999: Nova Scotia
- 75,000 to 124,999: New Brunswick
- 11,500 to 74,999: Northwest Territories; Newfoundland/Labrador; Prince Edward Island
- 1 to 11,499: Yukon; Nunavut
- 0: Nowhere
A separate number stands alone, outside of the map of Canada, stating that there have been 127,469 total cases on First Nations Reserves.
Precise data is provided in the following table:
| Location | Number of Cases |
|---|---|
| British Columbia | 411,589 |
| Alberta | 643,843 |
| Saskatchewan | 160,006 |
| Manitoba | 159,038 |
| Ontario | 1,666,649 |
| Quebec | 1,403,262 |
| Newfoundland and Labrador | 56,492 |
| New Brunswick | 92,760 |
| Nova Scotia | 148,900 |
| Prince Edward Island | 57,861 |
| Yukon | 4,989 |
| Northwest Territories | 11,511 |
| Nunavut | 3,531 |
| Canada | 4,820,444 |
Other Accessible Versions
This data on the number of total cases in Canada is also available auditorily using sonification, here; (general instructions on how to access these charts can be found at the top of this page).
Number of deaths by province and territory
Data is based on 55,517 reported deaths in Canada as of November 18, 2023.
Note: The total number includes publicly reported confirmed and probable cases.
Image: Number of confirmed COVID-19 deaths by province and territory (November 18, 2023). Retrieved from https://health-infobase.canada.ca/covid-19/current-situation.html?stat=num&measure=cases_total&map=pt#a2
Text Description
A map of Canada shows the number of deaths by province, using progressively darker shades of blue for provinces with higher concentrations of cases. From darkest to lighest:
- 5,000 and higher: British Columbia; Alberta; Ontario; Quebec
- 2,200 to 4,999: Manitoba
- 775 to 2,199: Saskatchewan; New Brunswick; Nova Scotia
- 575 to 774: Nowhere
- 35 to 574: Newfoundland/Labrador; Prince Edward Island
- 1 to 34: The Yukon; The Northwest Territories; Nunavut
- 0: Nowhere
A separate number stands alone, outside of the map of Canada, stating that there have been 829 deaths of individuals from First Nations Reserves.
Precise data is provided in the following table:
| Location | Number of Deaths |
|---|---|
| British Columbia | 6,361 |
| Alberta | 6,062 |
| Saskatchewan | 2,022 |
| Manitoba | 2,528 |
| Ontario | 17,187 |
| Quebec | 18,939 |
| Newfoundland and Labrador | 360 |
| New Brunswick | 962 |
| Nova Scotia | 923 |
| Prince Edward Island | 112 |
| Yukon | 32 |
| Northwest Territories | 22 |
| Nunavut | 7 |
| Canada | 55,517 |
Other Accessible Versions
This data on the number of COVID-19 related deaths in Canada is also available auditorily using sonification, here; (general instructions on how to access these charts can be found at the top of this page).
Number of Cases in Ontario by Date
Note that some increases in cases on certain days may be due to delays or data adjustments. Please follow your local news and use this graph as supplementary material.
Text Description
A bar graph with vertical bars depicting the number of new COVID-19 cases in Ontario. The horizontal X-axis is labelled as "Date" (from January 15 2020 to October 24 2023) and the vertical Y-axis is labeled as "Number of New Cases" which range from 0 to 20,000 in increments of 5,000. The following bullet points describe the shape of this graph:
- It starts out flat from January 15 to September 27 with 491 cases
- From September 28 to February 2 (2021) with 745 cases, bars increase in height and then decrease to form a small peak
- From February 3 to March 24 with 1,571 cases, bars stay relatively flat with occasional spikes
- From March 25 to June 5 with 744 cases, bars steeply increase in height and then steeply decrease again to form a small peak
- From June 6 to November 28 with 964 cases, it stays relatively flat with occasional spikes
- From November 29 to January 1 (2022) with 18,445 cases, bars steeply increase to form uneven tall spikes. The bar for January 1, 2022, is taller than the surrounding bars
- From January 2 to March 7 with 1,074 cases, bars gradually decrease in height.
- From March 8 to June 20 with 367 cases, bars gradually increase, then decrease in height again to form a small peak
- From June 21 to December 31 with 974 cases, the bars slightly increase, then decrease in height, before staying at similar heights.
- From January 1 to October 24, 2023, with 249 cases, bars initially slightly decrease in height. Then they stay at similar heights until the end of the graph. At the end of the graph are a few very small spikes.
Complete data can be read in this table: Number of COVID-19 Cases in Ontario - Table.
Other Accessible Versions
This data on the number of new COVID-19 cases in Ontario is also available auditorily using sonification, here; (general instructions on how to access these charts can be found at the top of this page).
Number of Cases in Quebec
Note that some increases in cases on certain days may be due to delays or data adjustments. Please follow your local news and use this graph as supplementary material.
Text description:
Dataset retrieved from https://github.com/ishaberry/Covid19Canada
A bar graph with vertical bars depicting the number of new COVID-19 cases in Quebec. The horizontal X-axis is labelled as "Date" (from January 15 2020 to October 25 2023) and the vertical Y-axis is labeled as "Number of New Cases" which range from 0 to 20,000 in increments of 5,000. The following bullet points describe the shape of this graph:
- It starts out flat with a few very short bars at first from January 24 to March 27 with 365 cases
- From March 28 to May 2 with 1,064 cases, bars begin to gradually increase in height with drops between days
- From May 3 to September 16 with 322 cases, bars have decreased in height and the shape remains mostly flat during this period
- From September 17 to January 9 (2021) with 2,751 cases, bars continue to increase in height like a staircase where it flattens out in short periods
- From January 10 to March 26 with 1,002 cases, bars consistently decrease in height followed by a period of flatness
- From March 27 to August 19 with 490 cases, bars slightly increase then decrease in height to form a small peak, followed by a long flat period
- This flat period continues with slightly taller bars and minor spikes from August 20 to November 30 with 896 cases
- From December 1 to February 28 (2022) with 815 cases, bars steeply increase then decrease in height
- From March 1 to June 20, with 567 cases, bars gradually increase in height, and then consistently decreases
- From June 21 to October 25 2023 with 526 cases, bars remain short then slightly increases in height, decreases, then increases a few times till the end of the graph where it dips again and then remains relatively consistent for a stretch before it increases very slightly once more.
Complete data can be read in this table: Number of COVID-19 Cases in Quebec - Table.
Other Accessible Versions
This data on the number of COVID-19 cases in Quebec is also available auditorily using sonification: (general instructions on how to access these charts can be found at the top of this page).
COVID-19 in Canada: Using data and modelling to inform public health action
On April 9th, the Government of Canada released a technical document: COVID-19 in Canada: Using data and modelling to inform public health action." This PDF document, available for download (download COVID-19 in Canada: Using data and modelling to inform public health action), includes a number of graphs and figures.
Rate of Spread of New COVID-19 Cases by Location
Text description based on an interactive graph shared in a CBC article on March 27, 2020. Read the article.
Text Description
An interactive line chart depicting the rate of spread of COVID-19 cases by day per location. To show where British Columbia is on the curve, additional curves are drawn to help readers compare other districts. The X-axis is labelled as "Days", beginning with "Day 1" and ending at "Day 15." The Y-axis is labelled as "Total COVID-19 cases announced by different jurisdiction with Day 1 marked by the first time it had more than 100 positives." The values on the Y-axis go up exponentially and starts at "100" for day 1. The remaining values on the Y-axis are "1000" and "10,000." There are twenty faint lines extending across the chart, horizontally, equally spaced, with the first and the eleventh lines coming from where "100" and "1000" are labelled. These lines are to help readers identify values by looking at where the curves intersect.
Visually, the days on the X-axis are shown for only the odd days but the values for the number of cases are available for each day. They are hidden until the user interacts with the chart. When you hover over a dot on the graph, it will tell you the day number, the place, and the number of cases.
Each place is represented by a dotted line. Every line begins at the bottom left corner of the graph and then rises to the upper right side. Specific trends along with certain values are written out in this description and provided as a table. However, since no data was provided, we only share the values that can be seen in the chart.
British Columbia begins with a steep line which rises to day 3 with 231 cases. From Day 3, the slope of the line increases slightly with a shallow curve to day 6 with 424 cases. From day 6, the curve steadily rises with a few jags to day 9 with 617 cases. From day 9, the line continues to slope gently upwards, almost plateauing and with a few small spikes, all the way to Day 15 with 970 cases.
Alberta starts with a steep incline to day 4 with 207 cases. from day 4 the line continues with a very slight slope upwards to day 10 with 486 cases. From day 10, it flattens out but still has a very slight upwards curve to day 13 which has 661 cases
Ontario Starts out with a very steep line to day 3 with 177 cases. From day 3, the line continues to rise with less of a steep incline to day 10 with 503 cases. From day 10, the line continues with a wide curve upwards all the way to day 15 with 1144 cases.
Washington State begins with a steep line with a slight curve to day 6 with 457 cases. From day 6 the line continues with a gentle curve upwards to day 14 which has 1500 cases. From day 14 to day 15, there is a slight spike which ends with 1800 cases.
United Kingdom starts out with a steep curve to day 6 with 459 cases. The line flattens out at day 7 also with 459 cases. From day 7 to day 12 which has 2600 cases, the line continues to rise with few very minor jags. From day 12, the line continues upwards with a very slight slope to day 13 with 2700 cases. From day 13, it becomes an incredibly steep curve to day 15 with 5100 cases.
Switzerland starts out with a steep curve to day 4 with 337 cases. From day 4 to day 5 which has 374 cases, it continues with a shallow curve. From day 5 the line changes to a steep curve to day 7 with 652 cases. The line flattens out since days 7 and 8 have the same number of cases. From day 8 the line curves up drastically with a few minor bumps to day 11 with 2200 cases. The line plateaus at day 12 with 2200 cases as well. From day 12 it continues as a steep curve with a few bumps to day 15 with 4100 cases.
France begins with a slight curve to day 4 with 204 cases. From day 4 it becomes a very steep curve with a few bumps along the way to day 15 with 6700 cases.
Italy has the highest starting point from day 1 with 155 cases. From day 1 to day 15, the line steeply rises, going straight up with a few bumps along the way ending with a cumulative number of 7400 cases.
Spain begins with an incredibly steep curve with slight bumps, to day 10 with 2300 cases. From day 10 to day 11 with 5200 cases, the line continues as a straight line that is nearly pointing straight up with a slight bend. From day 11, it becomes a steep upwards curve to day 15 with 11700 cases. The curve is not as drastically steep compared to Days 10 and 11.
Read this information in a table: Rate of Spread - Table.
At the bottom of the chart is a caption which reads:
“Information via CBC News and Johns Hopkins University. Figures after 1,000 rounded to the nearest hundred.
Chart: Justin McElroy"
Accessible Instructions
Finding instructions in an accessible format and that is descriptive enough to follow can be a challenge. In this section, you will find a list of links to accessible instructions such as making face masks and how to properly wash hands.
- COVID-19 Rapid Testing Instructions
- How to make a cloth mask (DOCX)
- Mask Sewing Instructions by Pipi Adams
- Greg's No Sew Face Mask by Greg Capps
- Hand Washing Technique: Description by Audio Described Aotearoa Ltd.
Accessible Videos
COVID-19 information shared as videos are not always accessible due to a lack of access to visual elements on the screen. In this section, you will find videos described by the NNELS accessibility team such as simulations.
- A 3D model of a person coughing in an indoor environment – how an aerosol cloud travels in the air
- Transcript (Note that the transcript is of the audio description track. However, this is a silent video so no auditory elements within the video are omitted)
Additional Resources
- COVID-19 Vaccination Tracker
- Talk Description to Me: Episode 51 - Pandemic Check-in
- Talk Description to Me: Episode 24 - Coronavirus Under the Microscope, Trending News Videos, and Screens, Screens Everywhere
- Advice for wearing a mask for people who are blind or have low vision
- Accessible COVID-19 Statistics Tracker
- Government of Canada: Coronavirus disease (COVID-19)
- Thrive Health: Canada COVID-19 App
- COVID-19 (Coronavirus) Updates: Canada
- World Health Organization (WHO): Coronavirus disease (COVID-19) Pandemic
- World Health Organization: Coronavirus disease (COVID-19) advice for the public: Myth busters
- Accessible Media Inc. (AMI) Discusses Covid-19
- Canadian Assistive Technology: COVID-19 Resources for People with Disabilities
- Emergency Distance Learning and Blind Students: Resources and Information
- Hadley: COVID-19 and Vision Loss
- Hadley: COVID-19 and Vision Loss Part 2
- Wellness Together Canada: Mental Health & Substance Use Support: Coping with COVID-19
- British Columbia: Centre for Disease Control: COVID-19 Resources