Nearly 5,000 new coronavirus cases were confirmed on Wednesday by the public health agency RIVM, an increase of almost 1,000 on the previous day’s number.

The figure of 4,947 is higher than last Wednesday’s total of 4,609, when some infections were missing from the data, and confirms the stagnating trend seen in the last week. In the last seven days the number of cases has been 0.8% higher on average than a week earlier.

The number of patients in hospital with Covid-19 continues to decline, with 1,839 people currently receiving treatment, 86 fewer than on Tuesday. Of these 539 are in intensive care, an increase of three.

Another 74 deaths were recorded on Wednesday, bringing the total number of victims to 9,109. The number of nursing homes where at least one infection has been recorded in the past two weeks fell from 664 to 627.