Coronavirus cases in the last seven days are unchanged from last week, but the proportion of positive tests has declined, according to the latest update by the public health agency (RIVM).

Hospital admissions declined marginally in the past week, but admissions to intensive care were up by 21.5%, the fourth week in a row that the number has increased.

The positive test rate continued to fall as more people submitted themselves for testing, the RIVM said. Local health board testing stations carried out 13.9% more tests in the last week, of which 8.1% were positive compared to 8.9% a week ago.

In a further indication that infections are levelling off, the reproductive number R shrank to 0.98, with the B-117 strain, which is responsible for around 65% of infections, measured at 1.06 as of February 22. The reproductive value of the more established strain was 0.82.

Vaccine impact

The figures also give further indications that vaccines are curbing the spread of the virus in the elderly, with infections decreasing by more than 20% in all age groups over 80 and more than 30% in the over-90s. The number of coronavirus-related deaths was down from 309 to 269, a reduction of 12.9%.

By contrast, there were double-digit increases in all age groups between 5 and 25, with the 20 to 24-year-old bracket rising by 14.8%. All the bands between 25 and 70 were virtually unchanged.

Altogether 31,959 positive coronavirus tests were recorded in the week to March 9, 25 fewer than the previous seven-day period, while 1,145 people were admitted to hospital, a decline of 46. The number of patients admitted to intensive care increased from 223 to 271.

Across the 25 local health board areas the infection rate ranged from 111.9 per 100,000 in Limburg-Zuid to 316.4 in Noord-Holland-Noord.

4,500 cases

The daily figures showed 4,333 new cases were reported on Tuesday, while the seven-day average remains steady at just over 4,500. The figure is 8.8% higher than a week ago.

The number of patients in hospital increased in the last 24 hours from 1,905 to 1,963, while 556 people are being treated in intensive care, two fewer than on Monday.

The RIVM also reported another 58 deaths from Covid-19, taking the official total to 15,917.