During the week from 22 to 28 February, the number of people testing positive for COVID-19 increased from 1,249 to 1,313 (+5.1%), while the number of their identified close contacts also increased from 2,766 cases the previous week to 3,101 (+13.5% ).
The number of PCR tests performed during the week of 22 to 28 February has increased from 60,716 to 64,276.
As of 28 January, the number of active infections was 2,822 (compared to 2,697 on 21/02), while the number of people healed increased from 50,842 to 52,019. The average age of those diagnosed as COVID-19 positive decreased to 36.8 years.
During the week in question, there were 12 new deaths related to COVID-19, compared to 16 the previous week. The average age of the deceased is 82 years.
In the hospitals, there was a slight increase in administrations, with 68 hospitalisations in normal care and 18 hospitalisations in intensive care of confirmed COVID patients for the week of 22 to 28 February, compared to 59, respectively 15, the previous week.
The two COVID-19 Consultation Centres (CCCs), located in Kirchberg and Esch-sur-Alzette, have recorded a total of 8,499 visits since their opening, including 401 visits for the week of 22 to 28 February, which is slightly lower than the previous week (430).
Positivity rate and incidence rate
For the reference period, the effective reproduction rate (R) slightly decreased from 1.04 to 0.95, while the positivity rate on all tests performed (prescriptions, Large Scale Testing, contact tracing) remains rather stable with 2.04% compared to 2.06% 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, also decreased to 5.43%, compared to 5.87% the previous week.
The 7-day incidence rate is 210 per 100,000 residents. Note that for the week of February 22, the incidence rate was 200 cases per 100,000 residents over 7 days. Compared to the previous week, the age group 0-14 and 15-29 years have seen the highest increase (+32% and +12% respectively), while the largest decrease was recorded in the 30-44 age group (-10%). The age group 15-29 now has the highest incidence rate, whereas the 60-74 age group continues to have the lowest incidence rate.
Quarantine and isolation
For the week of 22 to 28 February, 2,649 people were in isolation (+5%) and 2,991 in quarantine (+9% compared to the previous week).
Contaminations
For the 1,313 new cases, the family circle remains by far the most frequent source of transmission of COVID-19 infections with 48.4%, followed by the help and care sector (4.9%), leisure activities (4.8%) and the work place (3.9%). The rate of contamination for which the source is not clearly attributable decreased to 33.1%.
Vaccinations: update on the situation
For the week of 22 to 28 February, a total of 6,812 doses were administered. 3,837 people received a 1st dose and 2,975 received a 2nd dose.
The schedule of the amounts of doses to which Luxembourg is theoretically entitled according to the pro rata of 0.14% of the Luxembourg population, as provided for in the contracts already concluded by the Commission with the various manufacturers, as well as the amounts already delivered to the Grand Duchy to date and expected to be delivered by the end of March 2021, can be consulted in the attached weekly report (PDF).
To date, Luxembourg will therefore have enough vaccines to vaccinate 75,287 people by the end of March 2021. It should be noted, however, that the amount of doses is subject to adjustments from week to week based on manufacturers' production capacities and deliveries.
The evolution of the variants
For the week of 15 to 21 February, population sequencing coverage was 6.57%. This is below the estimated coverage of 11%, which is the minimum required for a representative sequencing sample of the population. On the basis of statistical inference, the frequency of variants reported during week 7/2021 is therefore not representative of the variants in circulation in Luxembourg.
All information can be found in the ReViLux report on Respiratory Viruses Surveillance - Revilux - LNS.
Regarding the representative sampling of 82 tests carried out for the week of 15 to 22 February, the following distribution of variants can be observed:
- The UK variant (B.1.1.7) represents 52% of the cases
- The South African variant SA (B.1.351) represents 22.7% of the cases
- No new cases of the Brazilian variant (P.1 or P.2) were found
Wastewater monitoring in Luxembourg as part of SARS-CoV-2
The latest CORONASTEP report drawn up by the LIST (Luxembourg Institute of Science and Technology), the level of contamination of the 13 treatment plants sampled during the week of 22 to 28 February indicates a high prevalence of the virus in waste water at national level. As in the previous 2 weeks, an upward trend was again noticeable for the period in question.
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)