A further 97 coronavirus patients have been hospitalised, the public health institute RIVM said on Saturday, in its latest update. This takes the total number of coronavirus hospitalisations to almost 11,000 since the pandemic hit the Netherlands in early March.

The official death total has also increased by 94 to 4,987, the RIVM said. The figures do not represent the previous 24 hours because of reporting delays. Nor does the death toll accurately reflect how many people have been killed by coronavirus, because it only includes those who have been tested.

A further 445 people have tested positive for the disease, taking the total to 40,236. Most of those tested are healthcare workers and people showing serious symptoms.

Teachers will also be added to the testing list, when primary schools go back on May 11.

The number of people being treated in intensive care wards continues to decline, and has now fallen to 735, according to the national acute care network. Of them, 28 are at German hospitals.

‘If this decline continues, there will be just 500 coronapatients in intensive care wards within a week,’ network chief Ernst Kuipers said on Friday. ‘That means that normal healthcare services can resume. That is happening already but the process will now speed up.’