11,000 more deaths than expected in 2nd Covid-19 wave

Between mid-September 2020 and end June 2021, during the second wave of coronavirus infections in the Netherlands, the country saw 11 thousand more deaths than expected for the period. There were particularly more deaths in the age group 65 to 80 years, and overall more men than women died, Statistics Netherlands reported on Friday based on preliminary figures.

The higher mortality in this period was entirely attributable to Covid-19, the respiratory disease caused by the current coronavirus, the stats office said. Between mid-September and end-March, the period for which the causes of death figures are known, 18 thousand people died of Covid-19 in the Netherlands. The total number of deaths for that period was 9.2 thousand higher than expected.

The fact that the number of Covid-19 deaths was higher than the excess mortality until end-March, has to do with the absence of a flue epidemic this past winter. The measures in place to stop the spread of the coronavirus, also stops the spread of influenza. In an average year with no pandemic, relatively many people die in the winter from the flu. In the first coronavirus wave, the number of Covid-19 deaths was about equal to the excess mortality.

Like in the first wave, more men died in the second wave of coronavirus infections than women. 65,800 men died in the second wave, and 65,800 women. That is an excess mortality of 6,900 or 12 percent men and 3,900 or 6 percent women. 

Relatively speaking, the excess mortality in the second wave was especially high in Flevoland at 18.5 percent. In absolute terms, the Rotterdam-Rijnmond GGD region saw the most deaths at almost 1,200 people. Relatively, the least people died in the IJsseland GGD region. This region had high excess mortality in the first coronavirus wave.