Reported coronavirus infections increased by 40% in the past week to 27,482 while the percentage of positive tests reached 9.1%, according to the latest figures by the public health agency RIVM.

Admissions to hospital and intensive care also showed a sharp rise, with 803 new Covid patients in the last seven days compared to 503 in the previous week. The number admitted to intensive care units went up from 100 to 122.

Aura Timen, head of the national disease prevention centre CLCI, said the effect of the government’s latest restrictions was not yet reflected in the statistics. ‘The rising trend is continuing,’ she told NOS. ‘It always takes a week or two for the effects to become clear.’

In total 975 patients are currently receiving hospital treatment for Covid-19, 190 of whom are in intensive care. In the last seven days 89 deaths were recorded in patients aged between 50 and 95, though some of them died in previous weeks.

Another 4,548 positive tests were reported in the 24 hours to Tuesday morning, slightly fewer than Monday’s record, after the figure passed the 4,000 mark for the first time on Sunday. Amsterdam recorded more than 10% of the total with 473.

The RIVM calculated the R figure, the calculation of the rate at which the virus spreads, at 1.17 in mid-September, continuing a slow downward trend. Recent cases in the last 28 days have been rising by around 7% in the last week, indicating that infections are doubling every 10 days.

More than 222,000 coronavirus tests were carried out, an increase of 5.1% against the last week of September, but the proportion of positive tests reached 9.1%, a level not seen since the first week of May.

The figures also show the outbreak is spreading again in healthcare facilities. In the week ending October 4 7.8% of tests in both care homes and hospitals were positive, including 7.5% of hospital staff and 8% of patients.