The second wave of deaths believed to be caused by the coronavirus has claimed fewer victims than the first so far. The excess mortality is also slowly decreasing. In the past week, 364 more people have died than usual for this time of the year, the Central Bureau of Statistics (CBS) reports Friday.
Last week (week 47, November 16 to November 22) an estimated 3,336 people died. That is 364 more than was normal around this time in recent years. However, the downward trend of recent weeks will be continued. A week earlier, the statisticians still counted 3,530 deaths, 598 more than average.
For nine weeks now, more people are dying than usual. In that period a total of 3,900 more people died than usual. That is less than during the first wave, when 9,000 more people died than usual in nine weeks.
The second wave does seem to extend over a longer period of time. By the ninth week of the first wave, the death rate had returned to normal levels and it is not yet the case.
When the corona pandemic claimed many victims in the spring, more people died in all age groups, but especially among the over-65s. Due to the current revival of the virus, a striking number of elderly people are dying. The mortality rate is hardly higher than normal in people under 65.
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