The number of positive coronavirus tests reported to public health institute RIVM soared to 8,868 on Saturday, a rise of 1,260 on Friday’s figure.

Last week, the number of positive tests a day averaged 7,239, an increase of 14% on the previous seven day period.

The sharp increase can be partly explained by the increase in testing and the number of tests carried out over the past week has risen by 8.5%. Nevertheless, the percentage of tests proving positive has risen from 7.7% to 8.4%, showing that the virus continues to spread.

The number of coronavirus patients in hospital is also rising slightly. There are now 2,238 people with the virus in hospital, of whom 643 are in intensive care.