During the week from 28 December to 3 January, the number of people testing positive for COVID-19 decreased from 1,267 to 1,135 (-11%), as did the number of their identified close contacts, dropping from 3,207 cases the previous week to 2,106 (-34%).
These figures should be viewed with caution, as the number of PCR tests carried out during the week of 28 December to 3 January was lower than in the previous week, with 33,948 tests compared to 49,875.
As of 3 January, the number of active infections was 3,114 (compared to 4,995 on 27.12), while the number of people healed increased from 40,370 to 43,364. Regarding deaths, a decrease is to be noted, with 22 new deaths related to COVID-19, compared to 36 the previous week. The average age of the deceased is 85 years.
The average age of those diagnosed as COVID-19 positive decreased from 41,1 to 38,4 years.
During the week of 28 December to 3 January, 103 hospitalisations in normal care and 32 hospitalisations in intensive care of COVID patients were recorded, compared to 135 and 37 respectively the previous week, allowing a return from phase 4 to phase 3 in hospitals.
The effective reproduction rate (R) increased from 0.40 to 0.93%. The positivity rate on all the tests carried out (prescriptions, large scale testing) was 3.34% compared to 2.54% the previous week (average over the week). It should be noted that the positivity rate for tests carried out on prescription, i.e. for people with symptoms, is 6.86%.
The 7-day incidence rate is 181 per 100,000 residents. Note that for the week of 21 December, the incidence rate was 202 cases per 100,000 inhabitants over 7 days. The incidence rate continues to decline in all other age groups except for those aged 60-74 and 15-29. The trend seems to be reversing in the 15-29 age group, which is becoming the group with the highest weekly incidence rate with 242 cases per 100,000 people. The 60-74 age group has the lowest incidence rate with 117 cases per 100,000 people.
Quarantine and isolation
For the week from 28 December to 3 January, 3.466 people were in isolation (-25%) and 2.440 in quarantine (-37% compared to the previous week).
Contamination
Following the decrease in the number of reported cases, the analysis of the sources of contamination could be carried out again over the entire week. For the 1,135 new cases, the family circle remains by far the most frequent source of transmission of COVID-19 infections with 51.4%.
The rate of contamination for which the source is not clearly attributable is stabilising at around 28%.
3 cases of the British variant detected in Luxembourg
The LNS has currently identified the new British variant in 3 people.
All passengers on all flights from the UK have been tested systematically since 24 December. All the passengers, with the exception of one person, had undergone a test before their departure (most often antigenic). The 27 passengers who had carried out their test more than 48 hours before departure (Antigen and PCR) were tested a second time. All tests were negative.
Visits to the COVID-19-Consultation Centres
The two Consultation Centres (CCC), located in Luxembourg-Kirchberg and Esch/Alzette, registred a total of 5,663 visits of which 411 were counted in the week from 28 December to 3 January.
Waste water monitoring in Luxembourg as part of SARS-CoV-2
The latest CORONASTEP report drawn up by the LIST (Luxembourg Institute of Science and Technology), indicates that during the week of 28 December to 3 January, SARS CoV-2 flows in wastewater remain high, although a downward trend could be observed in the previous weeks for almost all the wastewater treatment plants studied individually.
All CORONASTEP reports are available on the LIST website: https://www.list.lu/en/covid-19/coronastep/.
Press release by the Ministry of Health and the Luxembourg Institute of Science and Technology (LIST)