The Netherlands has experienced its highest increase of deaths since World War II due to the coronavirus pandemic.
According to the Dutch government’s Statistics Netherlands, over 162,000 deaths have been recorded this year out of the 17 million people in the country – an increase of 13,000 deaths over the typical year.
“In the first 51 weeks of 2020, 162 thousand inhabitants of the Netherlands died, 13 thousand more than expected,” Statistics Netherlands (CBS) declared.
Over 11,000 are recorded as having died from Covid-19 in the Netherlands – out of more than 780,000 recorded coronavirus cases – according to official statistics. However, it has been reported that the actual figure is likely to be higher due to an initial lack of widespread testing.
According to Johns Hopkins University data, the Netherlands has been one of the most Covid-affected countries in the world at around number 19 on the list, behind Germany, Spain, Italy, the United Kingdom, France, Russia, Brazil, India, and the United States – which is at the top of the list with over 19 million cases and 334,000 deaths.
Along with rules for social distancing and mask-wearing, and official advice against travel, the Netherlands has also implemented several lockdowns in an effort to curb the spread of the disease.
The Netherlands is currently in the middle of its harshest lockdown yet, closing shops, restaurants, and attractions from December 15 until January 19.
Similar dramatic trends were recorded in Sweden this month, with the country’s Central Statistics office revealing that November had been its deadliest since the 1918 Spanish Flu. Sweden’s November 2020 death statistics were 10 percent higher than the average number of deaths between 2015 and 2019.
Sweden has recorded over 8,200 deaths out of more than 396,000 Covid-19 cases since the start of the pandemic, and was controversial for refusing to implement as strict rules and lockdowns as its European neighbors early on in the crisis.
Swedish King Carl XVI Gustaf said this month that the country had “failed” in its response to Covid-19 after hospitals struggled with a rise of cases.
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