For the week of 2 to 8 August, the number of people testing positive for COVID-19 has decreased, for the 5th week in a row, from 439 to 404 (-8%), while the number of their identified close contacts increased from 1,065 to 1,379 (+23%) the previous week.
It should be noted that among the 404 new infections, 309 people were not vaccinated (76.5%) and 95 people had a complete vaccination pattern (23.5%).
The number of PCR tests performed during the week of 2 to 8 August has decreased from 46,244 to 36,024.
5 people reported a positive rapid antigen test (RAT) in the reporting week, compared to 8 in the previous week, bringing the number of positive RAT results by a health professional to a total of 271. Since the introduction of self-tests, 804 positive results have been reported, with 18 cases in the week of 2 to 8 August. It should be noted that positive RATs are not included in the calculation of the positivity rate.
On 8 August, the number of active infections had decreased to 779 (compared to 946 on 1 August), while the number of people healed increased from 72,222 to 72,791. The average age of those diagnosed as COVID-19 positive increased to 31.7 years, compared to 30.8 years the previous week.
For the week of 2 to 8 August, 2 new deaths related to COVID-19 have been reported.
In the hospitals, there were 16 new admissions of confirmed COVID-19 patients in normal care, compared to 19 the previous week. In intensive care, the number of occupied beds increased from 5 to 6. The average age of hospitalised patients increased from 51 to 53 years.
Positivity rate and incidence rate
For the reference period, the effective reproduction rate (R) slightly increased from 0.85 to 0.97, as well as the positivity rate on all tests performed (prescriptions, Large Scale Testing, contact tracing), with 1.12% compared to 0.95% the previous week. The positivity rate for tests carried out on prescription, i.e. for people with symptoms, increased from 3.65% to 4.43%.
The 7-day incidence rate decreased to 64 per 100,000 inhabitants, compared to 69 per 100,000 inhabitants the previous week. This is the 5th consecutive week in which a decrease can be observed.
The incidence rate has decreased in all age groups, except for the age group 30-44 years (+29%). The largest decrease was recorded in the 15-29 age group (-28%).
Quarantine and isolation
During the week of 2 to 8 August, 1,046 people were in isolation (-20%) and 787 in quarantine (+9%).
Contaminations
For the 404 new cases, the family circle remains the most frequent source of transmission of COVID-19 infections with 29.8%, followed by travel abroad (21.1%) and leisure activities (4.1%). The rate of contamination for which the source is not clearly attributable increased to 38.3%. Compared to the previous week, the number of cases/week has decreased for all sources except for travel abroad.
Vaccinations: update on the situation
For the week of 2 to 8 August, a total of 22,435 doses were administered. 3,382 people received a 1st dose, 18,943 received a 2nd dose and 110 received a 3rd dose, bringing the total number of vaccines administered until 9 August to 735,670. 371,611 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 13 waste water treatment plants analysed by the LIST (Luxembourg Institute of Science and Technology) during the week of 2 to 8 August, indicates a high prevalence of the virus in waste water at national level. Compared to the previous weeks, an 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)