Nearly 5,000 new coronavirus cases were reported in the 24 hours to Wednesday morning, continuing the fluctuating trend in the last few weeks.

The latest daily figure of 4,942 is 879 more than on Tuesday and the third highest figure in the last nine days. On average the number of cases has declined by just under 8% per week over the last seven days.

The number of Covid-19 patients in hospital declined again from 1,683 to 1,606, of whom 475 are in intensive care, three fewer than on Tuesday. The public health agency RIVM recorded another 66 deaths from coronavirus, compared to an average of 57 over the last seven days.

Tuesday’s weekly figures showed that the virus is still increasing in children under 10 while declining in almost all other age groups. The biggest falls were among the elderly population, with the infection rate among over-95s falling from 412 per 100,000 to 313.