COVID-19 cases - Weekly review: 13 - 19 September

During the week from 13 to 19 September, the number of people testing positive for COVID-19 remained stable at 542 compared to 553 the previous week (-2%), while the number of their identified close contacts increased from 1,477 to 1,857 (+28%).

Among the 542 new infections, 374 people were not vaccinated or partially vaccinated (69%) and 168 people had a complete vaccination pattern (31%).

Among hospital admissions, 73.9% of normal care patients and 100% of intensive care patients were not vaccinated.

The number of PCR tests performed during the week of 13 to 19 September also remained at a similar level with 28,992 tests performed (compared to 29,633 the previous week).

8 people reported a positive rapid antigen test (RAT) for the reporting week, compared to 19 the previous week, bringing the number of positive results performed by a health-care worker to a total of 314. Since the introduction of self-tests, 804 positive results have been reported (with 0 cases for the week of 13 to 19 September). It should be noted that positive RATs are not included in the calculation of the positivity rate.

As of 19 September, the number of active infections has decreased to 1,039 (from 1,067 on 12 September), while the number of people healed increased from 74,897 to 75,467. The average age of those diagnosed as positive for COVID-19 has decreased from 32.1 to 29.5 years.

For the week of 13 to 19 September, no new deaths related to COVID-19 have been reported.

In the hospitals, there were 21 new admissions of confirmed COVID-19 patients in normal care, compared to 29 the previous week. The number of occupied beds in the intensive care unit decreased from 10 to 9. The average age of inpatients decreased again from 47 to 44 years.

Positivity rate and incidence rate

For the reference period, the effective reproduction rate (R) remained stable at 0.98. The positivity rate on all tests performed (prescription, Large Scale Testing, contact tracing) also remained stable at 1.87%. The positivity rate for tests carried out on prescription, i.e. for people with symptoms, decreased slightly from 5.74% to 5.06%.

The 7-day incidence rate decreased to 85 per 100,000 inhabitants, compared to 87 per 100,000 inhabitants the previous week.

Compared to the previous week, the incidence rate has decreased in all age groups, except in the 0-14 age group (+30%) and the 45-49 age group (+15%). The largest decrease was recorded in the 60-74 age group (-33%).

The 0-14 years age group continues to have the highest incidence rate with 158 cases per 100,000 residents, followed by the age group 15-29 years, with 111 cases per 100,000 residents.

The lowest incidence rate is recorded in the age groups 60-74 and 75+ years.

Quarantine and isolation

During the week of 13 to 19 September, 1,250 people were in isolation (-3%) and 1,456 in quarantine (+57%).

Contaminations

For the 542 new cases, the family circle remains the most frequent source of transmission of COVID-19 infections (30.9%), followed by travel abroad (25.5%), leisure activities (5.0%) and education (4.0%). The rate of contamination for which the source is not clearly attributable decreased to 27.8%.

Scenario 4 at Vauban École et Lycée Français de Luxembourg

A school "foyer" for primary school pupils of the Vauban École et Lycée Français de Luxembourg experienced several positive cases leading to a scenario 4 in the week of 13 to 19 September 2021. Indeed, between 11 and 17 September, 2 adults and 8 children belonging to two groups of the school "foyer" and coming from several CE2 classes (2nd year primary school) of Vauban were diagnosed positive.

In view of the high number of cases and the mixing of pupils from the CE2 classes in the two groups of the school foyer, it was decided to:

• place the unvaccinated and un-recovered persons of the 2 groups in the school foyer in quarantine
• place the unvaccinated and un-recovered persons from the 6 CE2 classes in quarantine

Vaccinations: update on the situation

For the week of 13 to 19 September, a total of 5,384 doses were administered. 2,879 people received a 1st dose, 2,446 a 2nd dose and 59 a 3rd dose, bringing the total number of vaccines administered as of 21 September to 780,427. 401,415 people have a complete vaccination pattern, which corresponds to a vaccination rate of 72.5% of the eligible population (i.e. the 12+ population) and 64.1% of the general population.

Upcoming events of the "Impf-Bus on tour"

The vaccination bus will be present at the following events:

• Saturday, 25 September from 8am to 2pm at Lëtz Go Gold - Kockelscheuer
• Sunday, 26 September from 11am to 3pm at the Open House FLF Stadium - Gasperich

The next stops of the "Impf-Bus on tour" will also be announced on www.covidvaccination.lu.

Please note that the vaccination can be done without appointment (identity card and CNS card required). People who come for their 2nd dose must also bring their vaccination certificate for the 1st dose.

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 analysed wastewater treatment plants sampled by the LIST (Luxembourg Institute of Science and Technology) during the week of 13 to 19 September still shows a high national prevalence of SARS-CoV-2 flux values. A significant increase in the presence of SARS-CoV-2 was observed at the beginning of the week, while this was not confirmed at the end of the week. However, the general trend seems to be a slight increase in the circulation of the virus in wastewater.

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)