A further 4,130 positive coronavirus tests were registered with the public health institute RIVM by 10am on Saturday morning, taking the total since pandemic started almost a year ago to 1,001,894.

The true number of infections is likely to be far higher, given the limited testing carried out in the first wave, officials say.

Research into coronavirus antibodies in the blood of donors published by Sanquin last month indicate that as many as 2.3 million people could have had the infection – although Sanquin stresses blood donors are not representative of the general population.

Saturday’s positive test total is down 218 on Friday’s figure l but slightly above the average over the past seven days, indicating that the downward trend may be leveling off.

However, the number of coronavirus patients in hospital continues to fall, dropping to 1,983 on Saturday. In total, 547 patients were being treated in intensive care.

Both the coronavirus testing and vaccination centres face disruption this weekend, because of the snow storm forecast for Sunday. Regional health boards have already said they are closing all their testing and vaccination centres as a precaution.