The death toll in the Netherlands from coronavirus reached 24,484 by the end of January, national statistics agency CBS said on Tuesday.

The figure includes 2,757 people who are thought to have died of Covid-19 but who have not been confirmed to be coronavirus deaths, the CBS said.

In total, three in five of the people who had died of the virus were living in residential healthcare.

The death toll rose by 4,387 in January, the highest number since May last year.

The CBS figures are based on death certificates received from local authorities, and include people who have not been tested for coronavirus. This was particularly the case in the early part of the epidemic.

According to the government’s coronavirus dashboard, which only includes people who have died after testing positive for coronavirus, there have been a further 3,267 coronavirus deaths since the end of January.

This would take the preliminary death toll to 27,751, over 10,000 up on the official coronavirus dashboard total of 17,189. However, this figure does not include people who died of coronavirus but were not tested for the disease between February and May 3.