Respiratory tract infections: Weekly review: 23 - 29 January 2023

The weekly retrospective gives you a broader overview of respiratory viruses in general: including COVID-19 and influenza.

COVID-19

During the week of 23 to 29 January 2023, the number of people testing positive for COVID-19 increased to 630 cases, compared to 550 cases the previous week (+ 14.5%).

Among all those who tested positive, 52.5% were re-infected, compared to 48.6% the previous week.

There were 3 further deaths in connection with COVID-19 in the past week. ​

The average age of the deceased is 79 years.

In the hospitals, there were 4 new admissions of confirmed COVID-19 patients in normal care, compared to 12 the previous week. In intensive care, the number of occupied beds is 0. The average age of hospitalised patients is 66 years.

Vaccinations: update on the situation

For the week of 23 to 29 January 2023, a total of 289 doses were administered. 9 people received a 1st dose, 5 a 2nd dose, 34 people received one complementary dose to a full vaccination, 218 received a second complementary dose to a full vaccination and 23 received a third complementary dose to a full vaccination and 0 a fourth complementary dose to a full vaccination, raising the total number of vaccines administered as of 30 January 2023 to 1,293,007.

474,943 people have a complete vaccination pattern, which corresponds to a vaccination rate of 79% of the eligible population (i.e. the 5+ population).

Vaccination pop-up in Esch-Belval

In order to facilitate access to vaccination, a vaccination pop-up is open on Fridays until 17 February 2023 from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. in Esch-Belval in the Belval Plaza shopping centre on the 1st floor.

The list of all vaccination possibilities can be consulted on the following website: www.covidvaccination.lu ​

Closure of the Victor Hugo vaccination centre

The Victor Hugo vaccination centre will be closed as of 7pm on Friday 10 February 2023.

The list of all vaccination possibilities can be consulted on the following website: www.covidvaccination.lu ​

The evolution of the variants

Variant sequencing data are published in the REVILUX report on the website of the National Health Laboratory (Laboratoire national de Santé, LNS) https://lns.lu/publications/

Currently the Omicron BQ.1 variant dominates, representing 53.5% in week 3 in 2023 (59.6% in week 2 in 2023). The XBB variant represents 14.7% in week 3 in 2023 (11.8% in week 2 in 2023).

Wastewater monitoring in Luxembourg as part of SARS-CoV-2

The CORONASTEP report is published every 15 days.

The next report is planned for Tuesday 7 February 2023 and will contain data for weeks 4 and 5.

All CORONASTEP reports are available on the LIST website: https://www.list.lu/en/covid-19/coronastep/.

Influenza

For the week of 23 to 29 January 2023, the number of influenza cases reported by laboratories increased to 182 cases from 147 cases in the previous week, an increased of 24% compared to the previous week.

The microbiology department of the LNS, in collaboration with the Health Directorate and a network of sentinel general practitioners and paediatricians throughout the country, carries out annual influenza sentinel surveillance:

Data on the influenza sentinel are published in the REVILUX report on the National Health Laboratory website LNS https://lns.lu/publications/

Press release by the Ministry of Health, the Laboratoire national de santé (LNS) and the Luxembourg Institute of Science and Technology (LIST)