A further 7,305 positive coronavirus tests were reported to the public health institute RIVM, taking the average over the past seven days to around 6,600.

Some 1,475 people are now being treated in hospital, of whom 301 are in intensive care, hospital officials said.

Most positive tests – 637 – were in Amsterdam, but there were also 558 in Rotterdam and 322 in The Hague.

Officials say it will be a week at least before the impact of tough new measures to halt the spread of the virus begin to have an impact.

Meanwhile, hospital chiefs are warning that accident and emergency departments have been closed on occasion in the three big cities because of the number of coronavirus admissions.

‘Because hospitals were full, the A&E departments were full and ambulances were waiting outside,’ acute care chief Ernst Kuipers told MPs on Wednesday.

Last weekend Kuipers called on the government to introduce a new lockdown because hospitals are being forced to cancel regular care to cope with the pandemic.