Another 8,797 coronavirus cases were recorded in the Netherlands on Thursday, the third highest figure since the start of the year.

The figure is likely to have been inflated because of Wednesday’s technical issues, which led to hundreds of cases not being reported by the 10am deadline.

Over the last seven days the average number of cases per day increased by 10% to 7,317, just below the level at the beginning of April, according to the latest figures from the public health agency RIVM.

The number of patients in hospital with Covid-19 fell by 22 to 2,477, while 789 people are being treated in intensive care, an increase of five.

Jaap van Dissel, director of the RIVM’s centre for infectious disease control, told a parliamentary briefing on Thursday that he expected the number of infections to at its peak around now, while hospital cases were likely to continue to rise until the start of May.

The cabinet will decide next week whether to ease restrictions such as the night-time curfew and limit of one visit per household per day from April 28.

The death rate has increased in the past week, with an average of 25 new deaths recorded per day compared to 19 a week ago. Another 14 deaths were reported on Thursday.

However, the number of nursing homes recording an infection in the last 14 days has declined from 186 a week ago to 178.