New COVID-19 cases - Weekly review: 6 - 12 December

The number of people testing positive for COVID-19 has slightly decreased from 2,699 to 2,593 cases (-4%) for the week of 6 to 12 December.

Among the 2,593 infections detected this week, the incidence rate of positive non-vaccinated persons is 653.18 per 100,000 inhabitants and 287.57 per 100,000 inhabitants for those who had a complete vaccination pattern.

It should be noted that non-vaccinated people are more than twice as likely to be infected as people with a full vaccination pattern.

Among hospital admissions, 26 out of 55 patients in normal care were not vaccinated (29 had a complete vaccination pattern), while 16 out of 23 patients of intensive care were not vaccinated.

The number of PCR tests performed during the week of 6 to 12 December has increased from 30,274 to 30,536.

41 people reported a positive rapid antigen test (RAT) for the reporting week, compared to 35 the previous week, bringing the number of positive results performed by a health-care worker to a total of 617. Since the introduction of self-tests, 804 positive results have been reported (with 0 cases for the week of 6 to 12 December). It should be noted that positive RATs are not included in the calculation of the positivity rate.

As of 12 December, the number of active infections has increased to 5,341 compared to 5,098 on 5 December, while the number of people healed increased from 85,729 to 88,067. The average age of those diagnosed as COVID-19 positive remained stable at 33.4 years.

For the week of 6 to 12 December, 9 new deaths related to COVID-19 have been reported. The average age of the deceased is 72 years.

In the hospitals, there were 55 new admissions of confirmed COVID-19 patients in normal care, compared to 50 the previous week. In intensive care, the number of occupied beds increased from 16 to 23. The average age of patients decreased from 64 to 56 years.

 

Positivity rate and incidence rate

For the reference period, the effective reproduction rate (R) decreased, with 0.98% compared to 1.03% the previous week, while the positivity rate on all tests performed (prescriptions, contact tracing) decreased from 8.92% to 8.49%.

The 7-day incidence rate decreased to 408 per 100,000 inhabitants, compared to 425 per 100,000 inhabitants the previous week.

Compared to the previous week, the incidence rate has increased in all age groups, except in the 30-44 age group (+7%). The most significant decrease is recorded in the age group 75+ years (-13%), followed by the age group 0-14 years (-12%). The highest incidence rate is recorded in the 0-14 age group with 667 cases per 100,000 inhabitants. The lowest incidence rate is recorded in the 75+ age group, with 128 cases per 100,000 inhabitants.

Quarantine and isolation

During the week of 6 to 12 December, 5,696 people were in isolation (+12%) and 7,051 in quarantine (-20%).

Contaminations

For the 2,593 new cases (recorded between 6 to 12 December 2021), the family circle remains the most frequent source of transmission of COVID-19 infections with 37.8%, followed by education (15.3%), mostly in primary education (8.7%), work (5.5%) and leisure activities (3.7%). The percentage of undetermined sources has increased (32.8%).

Specific cases in the educational environment

Scenario 4 at the Harlange regional school (Regionalschoul-Uewersauer)

During the week of 6 to 12 December 2021, 38 pupils and 2 teachers tested positive in 14 different classes.

One class of Cycle 2 was affected by a scenario 4. 2 pupils tested positive on 1 December. After a 3rd positive case was diagnosed on 3 December, the class was quarantined until 10 December. Subsequently, 6 more pupils and 1 teacher tested positive.

Vaccinations: update on the situation

For the week of 6 to 12 December, a total of 36,087 doses were administered. 4,703 people received a 1st dose, 3,203 a 2nd dose and 28,181 people received a complementary dose to a full vaccination, bringing the total number of vaccines administered as of 14 December to 940,551.

437,351 people have a complete vaccination pattern, which corresponds to a vaccination rate of 79% of the eligible population (i.e. the 12+ population).

COVID-19 vaccination of vulnerable children

As decided by the Government Council on 10 December and following the advice of the High Council for Infectious Diseases (Conseil supérieur des maladies infectieuses – CSMI) on 29 November, vulnerable children aged between 5 and 11 years and those in regular contact with vulnerable people will be able to get vaccinated on a voluntary basis.

To get an appointment for vaccination, vulnerable children and children in regular contact with vulnerable people as defined by the High Council for Infectious Diseases can be registered via their physician or paediatrician from 14 December and will then receive an invitation by post. Vaccination can also be carried out directly by the physicians involved in the vaccination of children.

The Government is still waiting for the publication of a study on the feedback from the vaccination of children in the United States before taking a position on opening up vaccination to all children aged between 5 and 11 years.

IMPF'O'DAY - "Lët'z talk about vaccination": B2B AND B2C conference-debate on vaccination against COVID-19

As part of Vaccination Week (Impfwoch), the Ministry of Health organised IMPF'O'DAY on 11 December, which consisted of two conference-debates. The morning conference was aimed at the health sector, while the afternoon conference was dedicated to the general public.

The recording of the session for the general public can be viewed at https://youtu.be/SY7pKjUhd_4

Launch of the "#Lëtzebuergtestsech" action: Vaccinated or not, a COVID-19 test is still important

In order to get a clearer picture of the infection trend in the country, the Luxembourg Government is organising the #Lëtzebuergtestsech action from 13 to 19 December.

In this context, each household in Luxembourg received a letter in the week of 6 to 12 December, with an invitation to collect a kit of 5 antigen self-tests. The distribution of these kits aims to incite people to test themselves collectively on two specific days during the week of 13 to 19 December (with a space of 3 to 4 days between the two tests):

Details on how to participate can be found at covid19.lu.

Q&A sessions and live group testing sessions on Facebook not to be missed

As part of the test week (13 to 19 December), the Ministry of Health has scheduled live sessions on its Facebook page:

  • Live Q&A session (weekly): Thursday 16 December 2021 from 5pm to 6pm
  • Topic: Froen un d'Santé - Lëtzebuerg test sech
  • With the virologist of the Health Directorate Dr Dentzer and the director of the LNS Pr Dr Mühlschlegel
  • Live TESTING session: Friday 17 December 2021 from 12pm to 12.30pm
  • Topic: #Lëtzebuergtestsech
  • With the virologist of the Health Directorate Dr Dentzer and Dr Jean-Claude Schmit, Director of Health

"Pop Up" Vaccination: Lëtzebuerg léisst sech impfen

To increase vaccination coverage, the Government has decided to facilitate access to vaccination by deploying temporary vaccination spots ("Pop Up" Vaccination) and mobile teams will be present in high-traffic areas (pedestrian zones, shopping malls, events organised by some municipalities).

The list of all new vaccination spots, which is constantly being extended and updated, can be consulted on the website covidvaccination.lu

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 level of contamination of the 13 sampled wastewater treatment plants studied by the LIST (Luxembourg Institute of Science and Technology) during the week of 6 to 12 December showed a still high prevalence of SARS-CoV-2 in wastewater at national level. This week's results show a similar flow of SARS-CoV-2 as the last 2 weeks, with a stabilisation of the signal at a high level. A similar trend is also observed at regional level for most of the treatment plants analysed, with no regional disparities. 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)

Last update