COVID-19 cases - Weekly review: 26 July - 1 August

For the week of 26 July to 1 August, the number of people testing positive for COVID-19 has decreased, for the 4th week in a row, from 566 to 439 cases (-22%), as well as the number of their identified close contacts, which dropped to 1,065, compared to 1,599 cases the week before (-33%).

It should be noted that among the 439 new infections, 366 people were not vaccinated (83.4%) and 73 people had a complete vaccination pattern (16.6%).

The number of PCR tests performed during the week of 26 July to 1 August has increased from 43,738 to 46,244.

8 people reported a positive rapid antigen test (RAT) for the reporting week, compared to 11 the previous week, bringing the number of positive results performed by a health-care worker to a total of 266. Since the introduction of self-tests, 786 positive results have been reported, with 0 cases for the week of 26 July to 1 August. It should be noted that positive RATs are not included in the calculation of the positivity rate.

As of 1 August, the number of active infections has decreased to 956 (compared to 1,239 on 25 July), while the number of people healed increased from 71,490 to 72,212. The average age of those diagnosed as positive for COVID-19 remained fairly stable at 30.8 years, compared to 30.3 the previous week.

The week of 26 July to 4 August, no new deaths related to COVID-19 were recorded.

In the hospitals, there were 19 new admissions of confirmed COVID-19 patients in normal care, compared to 17 the previous week. The number of occupied beds in the intensive care unit increased to 5. The average age of inpatients decreased only slightly (from 52 to 51 years).

Positivity rate and incidence rate

For the reference period, the effective reproduction rate (R) remained fairly stable at 0.80 (compared to 0.82 the previous week). The positivity rate on all tests performed (prescription, Large Scale Testing, contact tracing) decreased from 1.29% to 0.95%. A similar trend can be observed for the positivity rate for tests carried out on prescription, i.e. for people with symptoms, which decreased from 4.19% to 3.65%.

The incidence rate decreased in all age groups with 69 cases per 100,000 residents over 7 days, compared to 89 cases per 100,000 residents in the previous week. This is the 4th week in a row for which a decrease can be observed.

The most significant decrease was recorded in the 30-44 age group (-37%). The 15-29 age group has the highest incidence rate with 159 cases per 100,000 residents, followed by the 0-14 age group with 69 cases per 100,000 residents. The lowest incidence rate is recorded in the 75+ and 60-74 age groups.

Quarantine and isolation

During the week of 26 July to 1 August, 1,309 people were in isolation (-18%) and 717 in quarantine (-36%).

Contaminations

For the 439 new cases, the family circle remains the most frequent source of transmission of COVID-19 infections with 34.9%, followed by travel abroad (12.6%) and leisure activities (10.4%). The rate of contamination for which the source is not clearly attributable decreased to 34.2%.

Vaccinations: update on the situation

For the week of 26 July o 1 August, a total of 26,788 doses were administered. 3,886 people received a 1st dose, 22,811 a 2nd dose and 91 a 3rd dose, bringing the total number of vaccines administered as of 3 August to 717.418. 355.891 people have a complete vaccination pattern.

The evolution of the variants

Variant sequencing data are published every Friday 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 contamination level of the 11 analysed wastewater treatment plants sampled by the LIST (Luxembourg Institute of Science and Technology) during the week of 26 July to 1 August shows a high national prevalence of SARS-CoV-2 flux values. Compared to the previous weeks, a significant increase was observed, with a level of SARS-CoV-2 contamination similar to that measured at the beginning of July.

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)