The number of patients taken to hospital with coronavirus in the last week fell to its lowest level since the start of October, the RIVM’s latest weekly bulletin shows.

A total of 830 admissions were recorded, including 186 people who were admitted to intensive care. Those figures are 32.2% and 22.3% respectively lower than a week ago.

The number of positive coronavirus tests fell by 28.1% to 25,255, while the positive test rate dropped from 12.2% of all tests to 10.4% in the past week, the public health agency said.

The figures for each age group indicate the vaccination programme is having a major impact on the spread of the virus, with infections down by at least 55% in every five-year band between 60 and 95.

The reproductive number R was calculated at 0.82 on May 10, down from 0.89 the week before, indicating that every 100 infected people pass the virus on to another 82.

However, the Outbreak Management Team dampened hopes that the next step in easing the coronavirus restrictions could be taken sooner, as the Netherlands still has one of the highest infection rates in Europe.

Ministers have come under pressure from the cultural sector to bring forward the date when museums, cinemas and theatres can welcome visitors again from June 9 to June 5.

Susan van den Hof, epidemiologist at the RIVM, said the latest figures were ‘good news’ but the third wave of the virus was not over yet.

‘It’s not the case that the hospitals are empty,’ she told NOS. ‘What we want is for the number of coronavirus patients in hospitals to get down to a very low level.’

The virus is declining faster in the northern provinces than in the south, but all 25 health board regions are now below the threshold of 250 infections per 100,000 people per week that is classed as ‘very severe’ on the government’s risk scale.

Three regions – Drenthe, Noord-Holland-Noord and Gooi en Vechtstreek have fewer than 100 infections per 100,000 people, while Brabant-Noord and Twente are the only areas with more than 200.

Another 96 coronavirus deaths were recorded in the past week, some of which are late registrations from previous weeks. The figure is an increase from 90 the previous week.

The daily numbers also show a continuing downward trend, with another 2,531 cases recorded on Tuesday morning. The figure is the lowest since September 23, except for two days in February when most testing stations were closed because of a snowstorm.