Text descriptions and data tables for the Road to Recovery: Cancer in the COVID-19 era report

Impacts on cancer diagnoses

PERCENT CHANGE IN NUMBER OF CANCER CASE BY MONTH, 2020 VS. 2015-2019 AVERAGE, ALL CANCER CASES COMBINED

Month 2015-2019 2020 % change
January 12,883 14,283 10.9%
February 11,834 12,795 8.1%
March 13,055 12,445 -4.7%
April 15,744 11,071 -29.7%
May 17,021 11,991 -29.6%
June 16,431 14,625 -11.0%
July 15,411 15,327 -0.5%
August 15,370 14,426 -6.1%
September 15,384 16,354 6.3%
October 16,567 16,047 -3.1%
November 16,395 15,449 -5.8%
December 14,274 14,561 2.0%
Overall 180,369 169,374 -6.1%
Note: Preliminary data from Quebec available only from April onward.
Source: Provincial cancer registries (Alberta, British Columbia, Manitoba, New Brunswick, Newfoundland and Labrador, Ontario, Prince Edward Island, Quebec, Saskatchewan)

PERCENT CHANGE IN NUMBER OF CANCER CASES BY MONTH, 2020 VS. 2015-2019 AVERAGE, FOUR MOST COMMONLY DIAGNOSED CANCERS

Month Breast Colorectal Lung Prostate
January 15.1 6.4 -12.2 11.0
February 11.7 14.8 -8.9 5.9
March 8.9 -12.4 -23.5 -14.4
April -30.6 -45.7 -29.6 -51.0
May -44.7 -32.1 -33.8 -37.9
June -23.1 -14.3 -21.1 -18.1
July -11.1 -11.1 -16.1 -4.3
August -9.7 -11.2 -23.2 -12.1
September 6.7 -2.1 -13.7 -1.6
October -0.7- -2.9 -21.2 -8.4
November 0.1 -3.9 -25.9 -11.2
December 7.6 -0.7 -19.8 3.0
Note: Preliminary data from New Brunswick unavailable for this analysis. Data for Quebec available only from April onward.
Source: Provincial cancer registries (Alberta, British Columbia, Manitoba, Newfoundland and Labrador, Ontario, Prince Edward Island, Quebec, Saskatchewan)

PERCENT CHANGE IN NUMBER OF CANCER CASES BY MONTH, 2020 VS. 2015-2019 AVERAGE, SCREENING AND NON-SCREENING CANCERS

Month Non-screening Screening
January 9.4 11.9
February 6.4 14.1
March -6.2 -0.7
April -28.4 -36.3
May -26.5 -38.6
June -8.0 -18.0
July -7.2 -10.9
August -5.9 -10.3
September 3.7 2.7
October -6.0 -2.8
November -7.5 -2.0
December -3.0 3.5
Note: Preliminary data from New Brunswick unavailable for this analysis. Data for Quebec available from April onward.
Source: Provincial cancer registries (Alberta, British Columbia, Manitoba, Newfoundland and Labrador, Ontario, Prince Edward Island, Quebec, Saskatchewan)