The number of people hospitalised because of coronavirus in the past week was again down sharply, according to the latest figures from public health institute RIVM.

In total, 482 people were taken to hospital with coronavirus, of whom 104 were admitted for another reason and were then found to have Covid. A week earlier, 1,017 people were hospitalised with coronavirus, 827 of whom were admitted because of the virus.

The number of people admitted to intensive care has also gone down, from 72 a week ago to 50 in the past seven days. In total, 52 people died from coronavirus, also down 31 on the previous week.

Dutch testing policy has now changed and people who test positive with a home test are no longer being advised to have the result checked at a regional health board centre. Last week, the test centres carried out 41,359 tests, less than half the total in the preceding week.

On Tuesday, health minister Ernst Kuipers also said he had agreed to follow new recommendations from the government’s outbreak management team which has suggested dropping the quarantine requirement for everyone who comes into contact with someone who has coronavirus.

That measure had already been watered down so it only applied to people who had not been vaccinated or had recently had the virus.

The recommendation to wear a mask in busy places is also being dropped.