New COVID-19 cases - Weekly review: 10 - 16 January 2022

The number of people testing positive for COVID-19 has increased from 10,680 to 11,728 cases (+8%) for the week of 10 to 16 January.

Among the 11,728 new infections, the incidence rate of positive non-vaccinated persons is 2,807 per 100,000 inhabitants and 1,429 per 100,000 inhabitants for those who had a complete vaccination.

Among hospital admissions, 26 out of 48 patients in normal care were not vaccinated (22 had a complete vaccination), while 14 out of 19 patients of intensive care were not vaccinated.

The number of PCR tests performed during the week of 10 to 16 January has increased from 36,208 to 37,804.

152 people reported a positive rapid antigen test (RAT) for the reporting week, compared to 150 the previous week, bringing the number of positive results performed by a health-care worker to a total of 1,207. It should be noted that positive RATs are not included in the calculation of the positivity rate.

As of 16 January, the number of active infections has increased to 22,432 compared to 16,343 on 9 January, while the number of people healed increased from 98,766 to 104,398. The average age of those diagnosed as positive for COVID-19 is 28 years.

For the week of 10 to 16 January, 7 new deaths related to COVID-19 have been reported. The average age of the deceased is 78 years.

In the hospitals, there were 48 new admissions of confirmed COVID-19 patients in normal care. The number of occupied beds in the intensive care unit decreased from 20 to 19. The average age of patients decreased from 56 to 48 years.

Positivity rate and incidence rate

For the reference period, the effective reproduction rate (R) increased, with 1.03% compared to 1.46% the previous week, while the positivity rate on all tests performed (prescriptions, contact tracing) increased from 29.50% to 31.02%.

The 7-day incidence rate increased to 1,848 per 100,000 inhabitants, compared to 1,682 per 100,000 inhabitants the previous week.

Compared to the previous week, the incidence rate has increased for the age groups 0-14 years (+77%), 30-44 years (+10%) and 75+ years (+9%). A decrease of between 3% and 20% is recorded in the other age groups. The lowest incidence rate is recorded in the 75+ age group (416 cases per 100,000 inhabitants), while the highest incidence rate is recorded in the 0-14 age group with 4,224 cases per 100,000 inhabitants.

Quarantine and isolation

During the week of 10 to 16 January, 22,625 people were in isolation (+98%) and 8,787 in quarantine (+144%).

Contaminations

In view of the high number of new infections, the identification of sources is currently not possible for all cases.

The family circle seems to remain the most frequent source of transmission of COVID-19 infections with 24.2%, followed by travel abroad (6.6%) and work (3.6%). The percentage of undetermined sources has increased (57.7%).

Specific cases in the educational environment

During the week of 10 to 16 January 2022, 34 classes in 22 primary schools and 5 secondary schools were affected by a scenario 4 with more than 5 positive cases in the class. The Health Inspection Department has quarantined students who are neither vaccinated nor recovered.

Vaccinations: update on the situation

For the week of 10 to 16 January, a total of 47,372 doses were administered. 4,039 people received a 1st dose, 4,232 a 2nd dose and 39,101 people received a complementary dose to a full vaccination, bringing the total number of vaccines administered as of 18 January to 1,177,944.

454,784 people have a complete vaccination, which corresponds to a vaccination rate of 75.5% of the eligible population (i.e. the 5+ population).

CovidCheck 2G+ system

Since 11.01.2022, the following people are exempt from testing under the CovidCheck 2G+ scheme:

• those who completed their vaccination less than 180 days ago,
• those who have received a booster vaccination,
• those with a recovery certificate.

Validity period of vaccination certificates

The general validity period of the vaccination certificates is set at 270 days (9 months) from the date when the vaccination is considered complete.

For the time being, the validity of the vaccination certificates issued following the booster vaccination has not been determined.

"Pop Up" Vaccination: Lëtzebuerg léisst sech impfen

To increase vaccination coverage, the Government has decided to facilitate access to vaccination by deploying temporary vaccination spots ("Pop Up" Vaccination) and mobile teams will be present in high-traffic areas (pedestrian zones, shopping malls, events organised by some municipalities).

The list of all new vaccination spots is continuously updated and can be consulted on the website covidvaccination.lu.

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

According to the latest CORONASTEP report drawn up by the LIST (Luxembourg Institute of Science and Technology), the contamination level of the 13 wastewater treatment plants analysed during the first week of 2022 still shows a very high prevalence of SARS-CoV-2 in wastewater at national level. The current level of SARS-CoV-2 in the wastewater treatment plants is very similar to that observed in October 2020, which was so far the highest level measured over the whole period analysed (March 2020 - January 2022). The general trend over several weeks, or even months, is clearly upwards.

At the level of the different treatment plants analysed, a very similar trend is observed, with SARS-CoV-2 levels comparable to the highest values observed in October 2020, for almost all the treatment plants. 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 Ministry of Education, Children and Youth, the National Health Laboratory (LNS) and the Luxembourg Institute of Science and Technology (LIST)