COVID-19 cases - Weekly review: 28 June - 4 July

For the week of 28 June to 4 July, the number of people testing positive for COVID-19 has increased from 107 to 787 cases (+635%), as did the number of their identified close contacts, which rose to 2,228, compared to 353 cases the week before (+531%).

The number of PCR tests carried out during the week of 28 June to 4 July decreased from 39,181 to 35,372.

10 people reported a positive rapid antigen test (RAT) for the reporting week, bringing the number of positive results performed by a health-care worker to a total of 221. Since the introduction of self-tests, 695 positive results have been reported, with 182 cases for the week of 28 June to 4 July. It should be noted that positive rapid antigen tests are not included in the calculation of the positivity rate.

As of 4 July, the number of active infections has increased to 28,9 (from 140 as of 27/06), while the number of people healed increased from 69,684 to 69,785. The average age of those diagnosed as positive for COVID-19 remained fairly stable at 28.9 years.

The week of 28 June to 4 July was the fourth consecutive week in which no new deaths related to COVID-19 were recorded.

The situation in the hospitals remains relaxed, with 3 new admissions of confirmed COVID-19 positive patients in the normal care unit, the same number as the previous week. In the intensive care unit, the number of occupied beds decreased from 2 to 1. The average age of inpatients decreased sharply from 60 to 46 years.

Positivity rate and incidence rate

For the reference period, the effective reproduction rate (R) increased from 0.86 to 2.08, as well as the positivity rate on all tests performed (prescription, Large Scale Testing, contact tracing) with 0,27% compared to 2,22% the previous week. A similar trend can be observed for the positivity rate for tests carried out on prescription, i.e. for people with symptoms, which increased from 0.95% to 5.95%.

The incidence rate also increased with 124 cases per 100,000 inhabitants over 7 days, compared to 17 cases per 100,000 inhabitants for the week of 21 June.

Compared to the previous week, the incidence rate has increased in all age groups.

The largest increase was recorded in the age group 15-29 years (+824%), followed by the age group 30-44 (+700%), the age group 45-59 (+336%) and the age group 0-14 (+181%). The lowest incidence rate is recorded in the age groups 75+ and 60-74 years. 84% of all cases last week were in the age groups 15-29 and 30-44 years.

Quarantine and isolation

During the week of 28 June to 4 July, 589 people were in isolation (+105%) and 1,790 in quarantine (+384%).

Contaminations

There is a new development regarding the sources of contamination. For the 787 new cases, leisure activities become by far the most frequent source of transmission of COVID-19 infections with 33.6%, followed by the family circle (9.8%), travel abroad (6.2%) and education (3.9%). The rate of contamination for which the source is not clearly attributable decreased to 38.7%.

Vaccinations: update on the situation

For the week of 28 June to 4 July, a total of 50,026 doses were administered. 21,947 people received a 1st dose and 28,078 a 2nd dose, bringing the total number of vaccines administered as of 6 July to 585,552 (1st and 2nd dose). 259,247 people have a complete vaccination pattern.

The evolution of the variants

For the week of 21 to 27 June, population sequencing coverage was 69.2%.

Regarding the 107 samples carried out for calendar week 25/2021, the following distribution of variants can be observed:

  • the Delta variant (Indian) B.1.617.2 represents 60.8% of cases, compared to 59.4% for week 24 - and thus remains stable
  • the Gamma variant (Brazilian) P.1 represents 24.1% of cases - it is thus again detected more on the territory (1 case detected for week 24)
  • the Alpha variant (UK) B.1.1.7 represents 10.1% of cases, compared to 29.7% for week 24
  • the Beta variant (South African) B.1.351 represents 2.5% of the cases

Since 18/04/2021 the Delta variant (B.1.617.2) has been detected in 234 cases resident in Luxembourg. It should be noted that with 69.2%, the sequencing rate in Luxembourg is well above the rate recommended by the ECDC (10%) and, above all, that the total number of Delta cases - in absolute terms - remains low.

Variant sequencing data are published on the website of the National Health Laboratory (Laboratoire national de Santé, LNS) https://lns.lu/en/departement/department-of-microbiology/revilux/.

Wastewater monitoring in Luxembourg as part of SARS-CoV-2

The level of contamination of the 13 sampled wastewater treatment plants studied by the LIST (Luxembourg Institute of Science and Technology) during the week of 28 June to 4 July shows a constant upward trend. A similar trend is observed at the level of individual treatment plants, with some of them showing a significant increase in contamination levels. Analyses in the coming weeks should confirm this result.

All CORONASTEP reports are available on the LIST website: https://www.list.lu/en/covid-19/coronastep/.

Press release by the Ministry of Health, the Laboratoire national de santé (LNS) and the Luxembourg Institute of Science and Technology (LIST)

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