Covid-19 deaths dropped 40% in February

In February a total of 2,504 people in the Netherlands died from Covid-19, the respiratory disease caused by the current coronavirus. That is 40 percent less than in January, and also well below November and December 2020, Statistics Netherlands reported on Thursday. 

Up to and including February 2021, Covid-19 had claimed 27,056 lives in the Netherlands, the stats office said. 58 percent of the people who died were receiving some form of long-term care, for example in a nursing home.

The number of Covid-19 deaths among people in long-term care in February decreased by nearly half, compared to January. Though Covid-19 was still a main cause of death in this population group, with 25 percent of of deaths attributed to the disease in February. In January, it was still 36 percent.

In the Dutch population as a whole, Covid-19 caused 14 percent of deaths in February, down from 18 percent in January. 

While Statistics Netherlands did not link the decrease in Covid-19 related deaths to the vaccines, February was when the Dutch vaccine program started gaining steam. The elderly and other people in long-term care were among the first groups to be vaccinated against Covid-19.