During the week from 21 to 27 December, including the holidays, the number of people testing positive for COVID-19 has considerably decreased from 2,681 to 1,267 people (-53%), as have the number of identified contacts decreased from 8,620 in the previous week to 3,207 (-63%).
The average age of those diagnosed as COVID-19 positive increased slightly from 38.4 to 41.1 years.
The number of PCR tests performed during the week of 21 to 27 December is less than the week before, with 49,875 tests compared to 78,271.
As of 27 December, the number of active infections was 4,906 (compared to 7,128 on 20.12.), while the number of people healed increased from 37,004 to 40,456. Regarding the deaths, the situation hasn't really improved, with 37 COVID-19 related deaths, compared to 38 in the week before. The average age of the deceased is 77 years.
For the week of 21 to 27 December, 135 hospitalisations in normal care and 37 hospitalisations in intensive care of COVID-patients were confirmed, compared to 181 and 43 respectively the previous week.
The effective reproduction rate (R) decreased from 0.87 to 0.39%. The positivity rate on all the tests carried out (prescriptions, large scale testing) was 2.54% compared to 3.43% the previous week (average over the week). It should nevertheless be noted that the positivity rate for tests carried out on prescription is 5.13%.
The 7-day incidence rate is 202 per 100,000 residents. Note that for the week of 14 December, the incidence rate was 428 cases per 100.000 inhabitants over 7 days. The incidence rate decreased by about 50% in all age groups, except for those aged 75 and over, where the decrease was less significant and which remains the only age group with a weekly incidence rate well above 200 per 100,000 people.
Quarantine and isolation
For the week from 21 to 27 December, 5,301 people were in isolation (-23%) and 4,342 in quarantine (-49% compared to the previous week).
Contaminations
The rate of contamination for which the source has decreased (27.8%).
According to the analysis carried out over two full days (21 and 22.12) and covering 633 cases, the family circle remains the most frequent source (43,2%) of COVID-19 infections.
Visits to the COVID-19-Consultation Centres
The two Consultation Centres (CCC), located in Luxembourg-Kirchberg and Esch/Alzette, registred a total of 5,252 visits of which 478 were counted in the wee from 21 December to 27 December.
Please note that the opening hours of the CCC as well as for the Large Scale Testing stations have changed over the holidays. The opening hours can be viewed on www.covid19.lu.
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), indicates that during the week of 21 to 27 December, SARS CoV-2 flows in wastewater remain high even though a decrease was observed during the previous weeks.
All CORONASTEP reports are available on the LIST website: https://www.list.lu/en/covid-19/coronastep/.
Press release by the Ministry of Health and the Luxembourg Institute of Science and Technology (LIST)