The decline in coronavirus infections continued to slow down on Monday as another 12,220 cases were confirmed by the RIVM.

On average just over 14,000 cases a day were reported in the last week, 19% fewer than in the previous seven days. The percentage of positive tests has risen slightly to 24.1%.

The public health agency expects the more infections Omicron variant to become the dominant strain in the week after Christmas, leading to an upturn in infections and hospitalisations.

The RIVM said 149 people had been admitted to hospital in the last 24 hours, while the total number of patients rose by 88 to 2,430 after several days of decline. Another 29 people were taken into intensive care.

The public health agency expects the more infections Omicron variant to become the dominant strain in the week after Christmas, leading to an upturn in infections and hospitalisations.

There are currently 615 Dutch coronavirus patients in intensive care, including 19 in Germany.

The number of deaths reported to the RIVM has also gone down in the last week from 63 per day to 52.