Coronavirus infections declined by around 8% in the last week of November, faster than the previous week but still not enough to enable significant easing of the partial lockdown.

In the seven days to Tuesday the public health agency RIVM recorded 33,949 new cases, compared to 36,931 in the week to November 17. The positive test rate fell from 12.0% to 11.1%.

Hospital admissions were down by 22% at 1,007, but the number admitted to intensive care dropped only marginally from 193 to 183. Another 402 people were reported to have died, bringing the official total to 9,376.

Infections declined across nearly all age groups, though the 13-17 group still has the highest rate and there was a slight increase in children under 13. Some members of the Outbreak Management Team have called for the Christmas holidays to begin a week earlier to reduce the risk of infections spreading within extended families.

The RIVM’s latest calculation of the R number, which measures how many people are infected by each patient, is 1.04, indicating every 100 people with the virus infect 104 others.

In the latest daily update another 4,073 cases were recorded, 530 fewer than on Monday but 3.7% higher than last Tuesday’s figure. On average cases have declined by 6.9% in the last seven days.

The number of people being treated for coronavirus in hospital was down from 1,721 to 1,683, of whom 478 are in intensive care, three fewer than on Monday.