In total 1,611 people died from coronavirus in March, the lowest monthly total since the end of September, national statistics agency CBS said on Thursday.

The figure, which takes the death toll since the start of the pandemic to 28,741, is based on death certificates which the CBS collects from local authorities and is far higher than the numbers the government’s coronavirus dashboard.

This currently gives the death toll as 17,745, based on confirmed cases which have been reported to the public health institute RIVM. Health boards are not legally obliged to report coronavirus deaths to the RIVM, but doctors must state the cause of death on a death certificate.

Some 56% of those who have died were in some form of residential care, but this proportion has been declining since the vaccination programme started, the CBS said.

How many people have actually died from coronavirus in NL?

In the past two weeks the RIVM has recorded an average of two deaths per day.