Respiratory tract infections: Weekly review: 16 - 22 January 2023

The weekly retrospective gives you a broader overview of respiratory viruses in general: including COVID-19 and influenza.

COVID-19

During the week of 16 to 22 January 2023, the number of people testing positive for COVID-19 decreased to 550 cases, compared to 660 cases the previous week (decrease of 16.6%).

Among all those who tested positive, 48% were re-infected, compared to 46.9% the previous week.

5 further deaths in connection with COVID-19 are to be deplored. ​

The average age of the deceased is 74 years.

In the hospitals, there were 12 new admissions of confirmed COVID-19 patients in normal care, compared to 21 the previous week. In intensive care, the number of occupied beds is 0. The average age of hospitalised patients is 68 years.

Vaccinations: update on the situation

For the week of 16 to 22 January 2023, a total of 444 doses were administered. 8 people received a 1st dose, 0 a 2nd dose, 38 people received one complementary dose to a full vaccination, 365 received a second complementary dose to a full vaccination and 32 received a third complementary dose to a full vaccination and 1 a fourth complementary dose to a full vaccination, raising the total number of vaccines administered as of 23 January 2023 to 1.292.956.

474,937 people have a complete vaccination pattern, which corresponds to a vaccination rate of 79% of the eligible population (i.e. the 5+ population).

Vaccination pop-up in Esch-Belval

In order to facilitate the possibility of getting vaccinated, a vaccination pop-up is open on Fridays until 17 February 2023 from 10 am to 4 pm in Esch-Belval in the Belval Plaza shopping centre on the 1st floor.

The list of all vaccination possibilities can be consulted on the following website: www.covidvaccination.lu ​

Closure of the Victor Hugo vaccination centre

The Victor Hugo vaccination centre will close at 7pm on Friday 10 February 2023.

The list of all vaccination possibilities can be consulted on the following website: www.covidvaccination.lu ​

The evolution of the variants 

Variant sequencing data are published in the REVILUX report on the website of the National Health Laboratory (Laboratoire national de Santé, LNS) https://lns.lu/publications/

Currently the Omicron BQ.1 variant dominates,  representing 59.6% in week 2 in 2023 (69.4% in week 1 in 2023). The XBB variant represents 11.8% in week 2 in 2023 (8.8% in week 1 in 2023).

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

The CORONASTEP report is published every 15 days.

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 2th and 3th week of 2023 still shows a high prevalence of SARS-CoV-2 in wastewater at national level. The current trend is downwards with a decrease in SARS-CoV-2 genome flows observed over the first weeks of 2023.

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

Influenza

For the week of 16 to 22 January 2023, the number of influenza cases reported by laboratories decreased to 144 cases from 192 cases in the previous week, a decrease of 25% compared to the previous week. The downward trend of the last 3 weeks is confirmed.

The microbiology department of the LNS, in collaboration with the Health Directorate and a network of sentinel general practitioners and paediatricians throughout the country, carries out annual influenza sentinel surveillance:

Data on the influenza sentinel are published in the REVILUX report on the National Health Laboratory website LNS https://lns.lu/publications/

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