The number of coronavirus patients in hospital fell by 147 in the last 24 hours, the biggest drop recorded since January 1, according to latest figures from the public health agency RIVM.

On Wednesday morning 2,002 people were being treated for Covid-19, down by 35% from the most recent peak on April 30. There are currently 637 patients in intensive care, the lowest number since March 26.

The RIVM recorded another 4,613 infections in the last 24 hours, bringing the seven-day average to 4,765. A week ago the average figure was over 6,500.

The percentage of positive tests in the last seven days fell to 11.8%, down by 0.4 percentage points since Tuesday, having peaked at 12.8% four days ago.

The death rate has fallen to its lowest level since the start of October, with 89 more people reported to have died from coronavirus in the last seven days – though some deaths are not included in the figures until weeks or months afterwards.

Cabinet ministers are meeting on Saturday to discuss the next stage of relaxing the coronavirus restrictions, which is likely to focus on letting secondary school children return to the classroom, RTL reported.

However, caretaker health minister Hugo de Jonge struck a note of caution about the prospect of opening up other venues sooner. ‘We’re only moving to step two of the reopening plan today. Let’s make sure we don’t relax the rules too quickly,’ he told RTL Nieuws.

Things are moving in the right direction, but in comparison with the rest of Europe we’re not doing so well.’