In total, nearly 31,400 people died or probably died from coronavirus since the start of the pandemic up to the end of June, national statistics agency CBS said on Thursday.

The figure is far higher than the official number of deaths reported on the government’s coronavirus dashboard  which stood at just 18,474 on November 4.

Figures reported by public health institute RIVM only include people who have tested positive for coronavirus and whose deaths were reported by regional health boards.

The CBS figures are based on death certificates.

In an article published in June this year, the Dutch government said that this CBS statistic was ‘the most precise figure on deaths’ but that it was not used on its dashboard because ‘this only uses recent figures’. Death certificates are filled in by GPs, sent in on paper and take several months to compile.

The new CBS figures also illustrate the impact of the vaccine programme. In total, 2,580 people died or probably died from coronavirus in the second quarter of this year, around one third of the 8,666 deaths recorded in the first quarter.

The Dutch vaccination programme picked up steam in February this year.

How many people have actually died from coronavirus in the Netherlands?