New coronavirus infections in the Netherlands have fallen week-on-week for the first time since August, according to the public heath agency agency RIVM’s latest figures.

In the last seven days 64,085 cases were recorded, a 5% drop on last week’s figure, while the daily total fell below 8,000 for the first time in more than two weeks.

Hospital admissions continue to rise, with 2,645 people being treated for Covid-19, an increase of 108 on Monday’s figure. The number in intensive care has gone up from 587 to 609.

Another 435 people were reported in the last seven days to have died from Covid-19, an increase of nearly one-third on the previous week’s figure.

The RIVM reported that the positive test rate had fallen slightly from 18.4% to 16.6%, still well above the World Health Organisation’s 5% threshold. The R number, which is a calculation of the rate of reproduction, was estimated to be 1.11 on October 16, indicating that infections were still on the increase.

Among the 25 regional safety councils, Zuid-Holland-Zuid had the highest concentration of infections, with 492 per 100,000 people, folllowed by Rotterdam-Rijnmond with 466. Groningen recorded the lowest rate at 89.

Coronavirus is also continuing to spread rapidly among the very elderly, with an infection rate of 685 per 100,000 in the 95+ age group and 488 for people aged 90 to 94. The next highest figure is for the 20-24 age group, with 476 out of every 100,000 testing positive in the last seven days.