No excess mortality for first time since September

An estimated 3,400 people died in the Netherlands last week - about the same number of deaths that was expected for this period, Statistics Netherlands reported on Friday. Last week was the first time since September that the Netherlands did not have excess mortality.

The number of weekly deaths in the Netherlands has been higher than expected since September, coinciding with the second wave of coronavirus infections. The excess mortality has been decreasing slowly for some time, until it reached zero last week.

That does not mean that no one died of the coronavirus last week. 294 coronavirus-related deaths were reported to public health institute RIVM in that week, though some of those reports may have come in late and involve people who died the week before or earlier.

The Statistics Netherlands estimates are based on the daily reports of deaths to the stats office. These reports do not include cause of death - that data is sent in later.

According to the stats office, nearly 13 thousand people died of Covid-19 between March and October last year.