MONTREAL — Thirty-one people were found dead in less than a month at a nursing home in Montreal, at least five confirmed to have coronavirus — a powerful Canadian emblem of how nursing homes are among the places hardest hit by the pandemic.

In the United States 17 bodies were recently discovered at a long-term care facility in New Jersey, among 68 deaths linked to the residence, 26 confirmed as coronavirus cases. And it was at a long-term care facility in Kirkland, in Washington state, that Americans first got a glimpse of the horrors to come after residents fell ill with Covid-19 in late February.

The phenomenon has been seen across Europe as well. In Spain, soldiers sent to disinfect nursing homes found people abandoned, or even dead, in their beds. Italy, Britain and France have acknowledged that their official statistics have overlooked many virus-related deaths in long-term care facilities.

The deaths in Canada were discovered late last week at Résidence Herron, a private home for seniors in Montreal, after the local health authority, alarmed by staff shortages and the spread of coronavirus at the home, took control of the residence.