During the week from 5 to 11 April, the number of people testing positive for COVID-19 decreased again from 1,544 to 1,265, while the number of their identified close contacts also decreased from 3,808 cases the previous week to 3,122 (-18%).
It should be noted that the number of PCR tests performed during the week of 5 to 11 April has decreased from 79,883 to 54,621.
137 people reported a positive rapid antigen test.
On 11 April, the number of active infections was 3,126 (compared to 3,624 on 04.04.), while the number of people healed increased from 58,231 to 59,982. The average age of those diagnosed as COVID-19 positive increased to 37.5 years.
The number of new deaths also decreased, with 12 deaths related to COVID-19, compared to 19 the previous week. The average age of the deceased is 84 years.
In the hospitals, there was a decrease in admissions of confirmed COVID patients, with 104 hospitalisations in normal care, compared to 111 the previous week. The number of hospitalisations in intensive care has slightly increased from 29 to 30 (including one patient from the Grand Est).
The two COVID-19 Consultation Centres (CCCs), located in Kirchberg and Esch-sur-Alzette, have recorded a total of 12,190 visits since their opening, including 682 visits for the week of 5 to 11 April, which is much higher than the previous week (586).
Positivity rate and incidence rate
For the reference period, the effective reproduction rate (R) increased to 0.96, compared to 0.86 the previous week. This trend can also be observed for the positivity rate for all tests performed (prescriptions, Large Scale Testing, contact tracing), which increased from 1.93% to 2.32% (average over the week). It should be noted that the positivity rate for tests carried out on prescription, i.e. for people with symptoms, increased from 4.01% to 5.22%.
The 7-day incidence rate is 202 per 100,000 residents. Note that for the week of 29 March, the incidence rate was 247 cases per 100,000 residents over 7 days. Compared to the previous week, the incidence rate has decreased for all age groups, except for the age group 60-74 years. The most significant decrease is recorded in the age group 15-29 years (-30%), followed by the age groups 30-44 years (-22%) and 75+ years (-20%).
For the first time since September 2020, the 75+ age group has the lowest incidence rate with 123 cases per 100,000 inhabitants, followed by the 60-74 age group with 149 cases per 100,000 inhabitants. Significantly lower incidence rates are now being observed in people aged 60+, who have been the main target of the vaccination campaign so far.
Quarantine and isolation
For the week from 5 to 11 April, 3,198 people were in isolation (-8%) and 3,440 in quarantine (-33% compared to the previous week).
Contaminations
For the 1,273 new cases, the family circle remains the most frequent source of transmission of COVID-19 infections with 48.6%, followed by the education sector (4.7%) and the work place (3.8%). The rate of contamination for which the source is not clearly attributable decreased to 35.0%.
Vaccinations: update on the situation
For the week of 5 to 11 April, a total of 24,403 doses were administered. 14,973 people received a 1st dose and 9,430 received a 2nd dose, bringing the total number of vaccines administered until 13 April to 135,091 (1st and 2nd doses).
The schedule of the amounts of doses to which Luxembourg is theoretically entitled according to the pro rata of 0.14% of the Luxembourg population, as provided for in the contracts already concluded by the Commission with the various manufacturers, as well as the amounts already delivered to the Grand Duchy to date and expected to be delivered by the end of April 2021, can be consulted in the attached weekly report (PDF).
According to the information available to date, Luxembourg will thus have enough vaccines to vaccinate 127,840 people by the end of April 2021. It should be noted, however, that the amount of doses is subject to adjustments from week to week, based on manufacturers' production capacities and deliveries.
The evolution of the variants
For the week of 29 March to 4 April, the population sequencing coverage was 30.7%, well above the optimal rate of 10% recommended by ECDC in order to have an optimal representative sampling.
Regarding the sampling of 529 tests carried out for calendar week 13/2021, the following distribution of variants can be observed:
- The UK variant (B.1.1.7) represents 74.1% of the cases
- The South African SA variant (B.1.351) represents 19.4% of the cases
- 6 new cases of the Brazilian variant (P.1) were detected
Wastewater monitoring in Luxembourg as part of SARS-CoV-2
According to the latest CORONASTEP report drawn up by the LIST (Luxembourg Institute of Science and Technology), the level of contamination of the 13 treatment plants sampled during the week of 5 to 11 April still indicates a high prevalence of the virus in waste water at national level. However, a downward trend could be observed throughout the week.
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)