The Dutch official coronavirus death toll rose by 27 on Saturday to 5,670, the public health institute RIVM said in its Saturday update. A further 45 people were admitted to hospital and 189 people tested positive for coronavirus.

These figures include people who died or were admitted prior to Saturday due to a time lag in the registration, the RIVM said.

Some 43,870 people have tested positive so far but the real number is likely to be far higher because not everyone is being tested.

Similarly, the real death toll is likely to be some 40% higher than the 5,670 announced today, since this figure only includes people who have tested positive. On Friday, statistics agency the CBS, the RIVM and Amsterdam teaching hospital released research suggesting that almost 9,000 more people have died than would normally have been expected, in the first nine weeks of the epidemic.

The latest small increases, however, suggest that coronavirus limitation measures are working, the RIVM said. The government is due to announce next week or the week after if it can move on to the next phase in easing the lockdown; the spread of the virus is key in determining this.