Covid-19 caused 8% of Netherlands deaths in first quarter

The coronavirus was still a common cause of death at the beginning of this year. In the first quarter of this year, 3,480 people in the Netherlands died of Covid-19, Statistics Netherlands (CBS) calculated. That is 8.1 percent of the total number of deaths in the first three months of 2022.

CBS based its figures on established causes of death. Information about this is generally passed on to the stats office later than reports of the death itself. That is why a clear picture of the causes of death can only form after a few months.

Compared to the first quarter of 2021, the number of deaths attributable to the coronavirus was more than half lower at the beginning of this year. In the first three months of 2021, 8,964 people in the Netherlands died from Covid-19, 19 percent of the total deaths.

At the beginning of this year, the Omicron variant was dominant in the Netherlands. This variant usually makes people less sick than its predecessors, but the number of infections was very high, especially in February. Every day tens of thousands of people received a positive test result from the GGD.

Mortality from Covid-19 was highest in March. Then, according to CBS figures, 1,443 people died of the disease caused by the coronavirus. In January, 1,004 people died of Covid-19, and in February, 1,033. Most (62 percent) were 80 years old or older. About 8 percent of the people who died of the coronavirus at the beginning of this year were younger than 65.

Despite the coronavirus deaths, the total number of deaths at the beginning of this year was not remarkably high, according to CBS. There was no excess mortality. In January and February, slightly fewer people died than would have been expected based on previous years. Cancer, cardiovascular and mental health and nervous system disorders, including Alzheimer’s disease, were the most common causes of death.

According to the stats office, the coronavirus has caused 43,245 deaths in the Netherlands since the start of the outbreak in early 2020. Some of these deaths were diagnosed based on symptoms and not confirmed by a positive test.