Another 10,492 positive coronavirus cases were confirmed on Wednesday, the highest daily total since December 2020.

The figure represents a 188% increase on last Wednesday’s total of 3,646, suggesting the explosive growth rate seen since the start of July days is slowing down. Over the last seven days the number of cases increased by 510%.

There are currently 212 patients being treated in hospital for Covid-19, an increase of eight in the last 24 hours, of whom 74 are in intensive care. Another 33 patients were admitted on Tuesday, the public health agency RIVM said.

The average number of cases in the last seven days is 8,395, while 14.1% of all tests were positive. Two weeks ago an average of 600 cases a day were being recorded.

The RIVM also said more infections were being reported in nursing homes. In the last two weeks 31 institutions reported at least one new case, up from 24 a week ago.

One more person was confirmed to have died from Covid-19, in line with the trend of recent weeks.

Infections are going up in all age groups, but the new wave of infections is concentrating in the under-30 age group, who are least likely to have been vaccinated. The RIVM said 84% of people who tested positive in the last week were unvaccinated, while just 6% were fully vaccinated.