Covid-19 caused 10,000 deaths in first wave; 2020 deaths 9,000 higher than 2019

National data organization Statistics Netherlands (CBS) estimated that 10,067 people died as a result of Covid-19 between March and June of this year, raising the number of deaths during the first half of 2020 to roughly 86 thousand. Nearly nine thousand more people died during that time than in the previous year, and about 81 thousand died during the same period in 2018.

Deaths as a result of the coronavirus disease peaked in April. During that month, Covid-19 was the leading cause of death in the Netherlands, the CBS estimated, when some 6,300 people died from the disease.

”The higher mortality coincides with the corona epidemic in the Netherlands,” the CBS said. The excess mortality was linked to a period from early March to mid-May. “Based on the received cause of death statements, it now appears that the excess mortality was entirely caused by death from the new coronavirus.”

Data from public health agency RIVM had confirmed that over 6,100 deaths were definitively linked to Covid-19. The additional four thousand cases added to the total were based on empirical research the organization conducted by reviewing cause of death reports filed by doctors on a daily basis.

The CBS said that 53 percent of the people who died were male, and 47 percent were female. The average age of men who died from Covid-19 was 79.7 years, and in women, 83.8 years.

Approximately 60 percent of all deaths caused by the coronavirus disease were long-term health care patients, including people with physical disabilities, people with mental disabilities, chronically ill patients and elderly patients who were in a weakened state.

The CBS said it was still waiting for cause of death reports in 2.5 percent of the deaths which took place during the first half of 2020.