Scientists from the University of Toronto found that the average number of global deaths from COVID-19 was 6% higher on weekends compared to weekdays (8,532 vs 8,083) throughout the pandemic.
The research was presented at the European Congress of Clinical Microbiology & Infectious Diseases and was conducted by Dr. Fizza Manzoor et al.
In the study, the team examined all deaths reported to the WHO COVID-19 database between March 7, 2020 and March 7, 2022.
They calculated the average number of deaths on weekends compared to the average number of deaths that occurred on the preceding Monday to Friday (weekdays).
They then repeated the analyses for 10 countries with the highest COVID-19 cases: the U.S., UK, France, Germany, Italy, Spain, Russia, India, Brazil, and Canada. Analyses were adjusted for national holidays ad long weekends.
The team found a total of 5,983,471 deaths and 444,961,484 new cases were identified over the two years.
Worldwide there were on average 449 more COVID-19 deaths on weekends than weekdays (8,532 vs 8,083).
They found that the highest absolute increase in weekend COVID-19 deaths was in the U.S. (average 1,483 weekend deaths vs 1,220 weekday deaths, 22% increase), followed by Brazil (1,061 vs 823, 29% increase), the UK (239 vs 215, 11% increase) and Canada (56 v 48 deaths, 17% increase).
Only Germany reported significantly fewer average deaths at weekends compared to weekdays (137 vs 187; see figures in notes to editors).
The researchers say that the increase in COVID-19 deaths on weekends is likely to reflect bureaucratic and reporting delays as well as hospital staffing levels and other organizational factors.
The findings suggest that this problem is not resolving despite improved health system performance and awareness over the course of the pandemic.
There is an opportunity for health systems to further improve clinical care on all days of the week.
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