A total of 7,888 positive coronavirus tests were reported to the public health institute RIVM in the 24 hours to Tuesday morning, as the number of confirmed infections soared 500% in a week.

In total, the RIVM received reports of 52,000 positive tests in the past week, compared with 8500 in the previous seven day period.

Although the total has declined for three days in a row, that may change on Wednesday, when the effect of delayed tests over the weekend kicks in. Wednesday and Thursday tend to have more positive tests than the rest of the week.

Most positive tests were among the 18 to 24-year-olds, most of whom have not been fully vaccinated. So far 18 million vaccine doses have been given in the Netherlands.

In total, 13.4% of people reporting for a test at a local health board test centre were positive, as were 2.2% of people who went to a ‘test for entry’ fast antigen test centre, the RIVM said.

The number of coronavirus patients in hospital, however, has gone down slightly, according to figures from national patient monitoring centre LCPS. In total, 204 people are being treated in hospital, of whom 75 are in an intensive care ward.

The reproductive rate of coronavirus surged to its highest level since the start of the pandemic at the end of June, according to the RIVM’s latest calculations. The ‘R’ number, which determines how many people the average infected person passes the virus on to, was calculated at 2.17 for June 28.