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The COVID-19 pandemic has demonstrated the need for real-time, open-access epidemiological information to inform public health decision-making and outbreak control efforts. In Canada, authority for healthcare delivery primarily lies at the provincial and territorial level; however, at the outset of the pandemic no definitive pan-Canadian COVID-19 datasets were available. The COVID-19 Canada Open Data Working Group was created to fill this crucial data gap. As a team of volunteer contributors, we collect daily COVID-19 data from a variety of governmental and non-governmental sources and curate a line-list of cases and mortality for all provinces and territories of Canada, including information on location, age, sex, travel history, and exposure, where available. We also curate time series of COVID-19 recoveries, testing, and vaccine doses administered and distributed. Data are recorded systematically at a fine sub-national scale, which can be used to support robust understanding of COVID-19 hotspots. We continue to maintain this dataset, and an accompanying online dashboard, to provide a reliable pan-Canadian COVID-19 resource to researchers, journalists, and the general public., (© 2021. The Author(s).)

Background: Nonpharmaceutical interventions (NPIs) are the primary tools to mitigate early spread of the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic; however, such policies are implemented variably at the federal, provincial or territorial, and municipal levels without centralized documentation. We describe the development of the comprehensive open Canadian Non-Pharmaceutical Intervention (CAN-NPI) data set, which identifies and classifies all NPIs implemented in regions across Canada in response to COVID-19, and provides an accompanying description of geographic and temporal heterogeneity., Methods: We performed an environmental scan of government websites, news media and verified government social media accounts to identify NPIs implemented in Canada between Jan. 1 and Apr. 19, 2020. The CAN-NPI data set contains information about each intervention's timing, location, type, target population and alignment with a response stringency measure. We conducted descriptive analyses to characterize the temporal and geographic variation in early NPI implementation., Results: We recorded 2517 NPIs grouped in 63 distinct categories during this period. The median date of NPI implementation in Canada was Mar. 24, 2020. Most jurisdictions heightened the stringency of their response following the World Health Organization's global pandemic declaration on Mar. 11, 2020. However, there was variation among provinces or territories in the timing and stringency of NPI implementation, with 8 out of 13 provinces or territories declaring a state of emergency by Mar. 18, and all by Mar. 22, 2020., Interpretation: There was substantial geographic and temporal heterogeneity in NPI implementation across Canada, highlighting the importance of a subnational lens in evaluating the COVID-19 pandemic response. Our comprehensive open-access data set will enable researchers to conduct robust interjurisdictional analyses of NPI impact in curtailing COVID-19 transmission., Competing Interests: Competing interests: None declared., (Copyright 2020, Joule Inc. or its licensors.)