Coronavirus infections more than doubled in school-age children as one person in 50 tested positive for the virus in the last week, according to the latest weekly bulletin by the RIVM.

The official figure of 361,120 – a 51% increase since last week – is incomplete because an estimated 60,000 tests are still waiting to be analysed, the public health agency said.

Latest figures also show the high number of infections is beginning to affect the hospital numbers. Since mid-December the total number of patients with coronavirus has fallen by 60%, but the number of new admissions was 15% higher last week at 855.

‘This shows that the turning point from decline to increase has been reached,’ the RIVM commented in its report.

The number of patients in intensive care has gone down from 303 to 252 in the last week, while new admissions were down by 34%.

The highest infection rate was in the 10 to 14 age group, 6.1% of whom tested positive in the last week. The RIVM said infections were 161% higher in primary school children and up by 112% in secondary school pupils.

Positive tests were more than 65% higher in people aged 35 to 44, but in most over-50 age groups the increase was less than 12%.

Another 54,225 cases were reported in the last 24 hours, taking the seven-day average figure above 50,000 for the first time.

The RIVM also reported 61 more deaths from Covid-19, compared to 63 in the previous week.