Last year alone, almost as many people actually died from coronavirus as the Dutch government reports as its official ‘total dead Covid-19 patients’.

According to the CBS Dutch statistics office, which is recognised by the government to report the most complete figures with a time lag, 19,400 people died from coronavirus in 2021.

However, the Dutch government still highlights a dramatically lower figure, based on the number of people who had an RIVM public health institute test and later died.

This figure is still given priority, despite evidence that thousands of people did not take these official tests, they were not routinely given to people entering hospital, and critical questioning by press and MPs.

According to the official Dutch ‘corona dashboard’, the total number of ‘dead Covid-19 patients’ from the beginning of records until March 31 this year was 21,987.

However the CBS reports that ‘from March 2020, the beginning of the corona pandemic, until December 2021…39,552 people have died from Covid-19. The figures represented 12% of deaths in 2020 and 11% of deaths in 2021, and generally match recorded excess deaths (above what would normally be expected) in the period.’

Of those who died from the pandemic last year, six in 10 were aged at least 80 and 46% were in residential care.

MPs such as Pieter Omtzigt have been calling into further investigation into the total number of ‘excess deaths’ during the coronavirus period.

Last month, the Dutch government appointed a committee to consider how to commemorate the victims of the pandemic in the form of possibly a national memorial day or physical monument. It is unclear what number the government would choose to use when formally recognising its dead.

Dutch News has asked the health ministry whether it recognises the latest CBS pandemic death figures, why these are not reported on its own dashboards, and which number it would use in any kind of memorial.