New COVID-19 cases - Weekly review: 7 - 13 February 2022

The number of people testing positive for COVID-19 has decreased from 11,003 to 5,871 cases (-53%) for the week of 7 to 13 February.

Among the 5,871 new infections, the incidence rate of positive non-vaccinated persons is 1,368 per 100,000 inhabitants and 749 per 100,000 inhabitants for those who had a complete vaccination.

Among hospital admissions, 24 out of 64 patients in normal care were not vaccinated (40 had a complete vaccination), while 4 out of 10 patients of intensive care were not vaccinated.

For the period from 1 October 2021 to 26 January 2022, the incidence rate for persons fully vaccinated is 56.5 in normal care and 12.4 in intensive care. The incidence rate for non-vaccinated persons is 112 in normal care and 34.5 in intensive care.

The number of PCR tests performed during the week of 7 to 13 February has decreased from 32,227 to 24,341.

65 people reported a positive rapid antigen test (RAT) for the reporting week, compared to 151 the previous week, bringing the number of positive results performed by a health-care worker to a total of 1,974. It should be noted that positive RATs are not included in the calculation of the positivity rate.

As of 13 February, the number of active infections has decreased to 17,119 compared to 26,222 on 6 February, while the number of people healed increased from 141,802 to 156,761. The average age of those diagnosed as positive for COVID-19 is 31.3 years.

For the week of 7 to 13 February, 12 new deaths related to COVID-19 have been reported. The average age of the deceased is 80 years.

In the hospitals, there were 64 new admissions of confirmed COVID-19 patients in normal care, compared to 73 the previous week. The number of occupied beds in the intensive care unit decreased from 11 to 10. The average age of hospitalised patients is 58 years.

Positivity rate and incidence rate

For the reference period, the effective reproduction rate (R) decreased, with 0.54% compared to 0.72% the previous week, while the positivity rate on all tests performed (prescriptions, contact tracing) decreased from 34.14% to 24.12%.

The 7-day incidence rate decreased to 924 per 100,000 inhabitants, compared to 1,733 per 100,000 inhabitants the previous week.

Re-infections as well as certified self-tests in schools were included in the calculation of incidence rates. Compared to the previous week, the incidence rate has decreased in all age groups (between -34% and -53%). The lowest incidence rate is recorded in the 75+ age group (462 cases per 100,000 inhabitants), while the highest incidence rate is recorded in the 0-14 age group with 2,036 cases per 100,000 inhabitants.

Quarantine and isolation

During the week of 7 to 13 February, 25,788 people were in isolation (-27%) and 3,073 in quarantine (-50%).

Contaminations

In view of the high number of new infections, the identification of sources is currently not possible for all cases.

The family circle remains the most frequent source of transmission of COVID-19 infections with 40.8%, followed by work (5.4%), care sector (3.4%), travel abroad (3.3%) and leisure activities (3.1%). The percentage of undetermined sources has decreased (37.6%).

Specific cases in the educational environment

During the week of 7 to 13 February, one class in a primary school was affected by a scenario 4 followed by a quarantine (with more than 5 positive cases in the class).

Vaccinations: update on the situation

For the week of 7 to 13 February, a total of 11,720 doses were administered. 889 people received a 1st dose, 3,053 a 2nd dose and 6,713 people received a complementary dose to a full vaccination, bringing the total number of vaccines administered as of 16 February to 1,256,487.

466,145 people have a complete vaccination, which corresponds to a vaccination rate of 77.6% of the eligible population (i.e. the 5+ population).

New COVID-19 law: relaxation of certain measures

Following the vote of the new law COVID-19 by the Chamber of Deputies on 11 February, the amended law of 17 July 2020 on measures to combat the COVID-19 pandemic has been adapted.

These new COVID-19 sanitary measures will remain applicable until 30 April 2022 inclusive.

You will find all the measures in force on the following website https://covid19.public.lu/en.html

"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 is continuously updated and can be consulted on 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/publications-en/.

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 contamination level of the 13 wastewater treatment plants analysed during the sixth week of 2022 still shows a very high prevalence of SARS-CoV-2 in wastewater at national level.

The decrease in the flow of SARS-CoV-2 that began last week is confirmed here, although the current level of SARS-CoV-2 remains high. This decrease is also noticeable and confirmed for all the treatment plants analysed. The results of the next few weeks will be essential to confirm this downward trend.

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)

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