Public health institute RIVM registered 11,212 new coronavirus cases in the 24 hours to Monday morning, slightly above the average over the past seven days, news website Nu.nl reported.

Nevertheless, Monday’s figure is the first drop in the number of positive cases in five days, following IT problems. Part of the recent increase in positive tests is also due to more testing taking place, experts point out.

A further 205 people were hospitalised and 37 admitted to an intensive care ward, taking the total number of hospital patients to 2,162.

The RIVM will publish its latest weekly analysis on Tuesday, a week after the government announced a tougher lockdown in an effort to slow the increase in the number of positive cases.

As expected, the European Medicines Agency on Monday gave its formal approval to the Pfizer BioNTech vaccine, clearing the way for vaccinations to start in the Netherlands on January 8.

The first invitations to people to report for a vaccine will be issued on January 4 and will focus on people working in nursing homes, care for the disabled, district nursing and home care support, health minister Hugo de Jonge said on Friday.

Local health boards will start the main vaccination programme at three locations by Monday January 11 and from January 18, 25 vaccination centres will be open for business, he said.