New COVID-19 cases - Weekly review: 14 - 20 February 2022

The number of people testing positive for COVID-19 has decreased from 5,871 to 3,648 cases (-38%) for the week of 14 to 20 February 2022.

Among the 3,648 new infections, the incidence rate of positive non-vaccinated persons is 661 per 100,000 inhabitants and 540 per 100,000 inhabitants for those who had a complete vaccination.

Among hospital admissions, 18 out of 42 patients in normal care were not vaccinated (24 patients had a complete vaccination), while 6 out of 9 patients of intensive care were not vaccinated.

The incidence rate calculated on 100,000 hospitalised persons (5 years and older) with a complete vaccination pattern is 5.29 in normal care and 1.32 in intensive care. The incidence rate calculated on 100,000 non-vaccinated hospitalized persons (5 years and older) is 12.18 in normal care and 2.03 in intensive care.

The number of PCR tests performed during the week of 14 to 20 February has decreased from 24,343 to 15,271.

50 people reported a positive rapid antigen test (RAT) for the reporting week, compared to 65 the previous week, bringing the number of positive results performed by a health-care worker to a total of 2,024. It should be noted that positive RATs are not included in the calculation of the positivity rate.

As of 20 February, the number of active infections has decreased to 9,738 compared to 17,135 on 13 February, while the number of people healed increased from 156,746 to 167,784. The average age of those diagnosed as positive for COVID-19 is 35.3 years.

For the week of 14 to 20 February, 7 new deaths related to COVID-19 have been reported. The average age of the deceased is 85 years.

In the hospitals, there were 42 new admissions of confirmed COVID-19 patients in normal care, compared to 64 the previous week. The number of occupied beds in the intensive care unit decreased from 10 to 9. The average age of hospitalised patients is 56 years.

Positivity rate and incidence rate

For the reference period, the effective reproduction rate (R) decreased, with 0.84% compared to 0.55% the previous week, while the positivity rate on all tests performed (prescriptions, contact tracing) decreased from 24.12% to 23.89%.

The 7-day incidence rate decreased to 575 per 100,000 inhabitants, compared to 924 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. The most significant decrease is recorded in the age group 0-14 years (-64%). It should be noted that in the week of 07/02-13/02 about 21% of the positive tests in children aged 0-14 years were antigenic tests carried out at school, whereas in the week of 14/02-20/02, due to the school holidays, there were no antigenic tests carried out at school. In the age groups 15-59 a decrease of between 26% and 36% is recorded, while the decrease is less significant in the 60-64 age group (-18%) and the 75+ age group (-17%). The lowest incidence rate is recorded in the 60-74 age group (353 cases per 100,000 inhabitants), while the highest incidence rate is recorded in the 30-44 age group with 892 cases per 100,000 inhabitants.

Quarantine and isolation

During the week of 14 to 20 February, 15,240 people were in isolation (-41%) and 559 in quarantine (-82%).

Contaminations

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

The family circle remains the most frequent source of transmission with 37.4%, followed by education (5.5%), travel abroad (4.9%), leisure activities (4.7%) and work (3.8%). The percentage of undetermined sources has increased (39.2%).

Vaccinations: update on the situation

For the week of 14 to 20 February, a total of 6,594 doses were administered. 931 people received a 1st dose, 1,585 a 2nd dose, 3,423 people received one complementary dose to a full vaccination, and 655 received a second complementary dose to a full vaccination, bringing the total number of vaccines administered as of 21 February to 1,260,842.

467,347 people have a complete vaccination pattern, which corresponds to a vaccination rate of 77.7% of the eligible population (i.e. the 5+ population).

COVID-19 and hospitals: scaling down of the hospital surge plan to phase 2

In view of the favourable evolution with regards to hospitalisations of patients with COVID-19, both in intensive and in normal care, the national Crisis Cell, in agreement with the Fédération des hôptiaux luxembourgeois (FHL), has decided to lower the surge plan to phase 2.

However, patients hospitalised for another cause, but carrying the virus of COVID-19, remain a concern for the internal organisation of hospitals. They will remain vigilant and monitor these developments in the coming weeks.

Closure of the centre Luxexpo The Box and reopening of the centre Hall Victor Hugo

The temporary vaccination centre at Luxexpo The Box (Luxembourg-Kirchberg) will close on 5 March 2022. It will be replaced by the Hall Victor Hugo vaccination centre in Limpertsberg which will reopen on 8 March 2022.

Appointments (for vaccination) at the vaccination centres can be made online at Guichet.lu.

The opening hours of all vaccination points can be found at www.covidvaccination.lu.

Due to the launch of the European Capital of Culture, Esch2022, the vaccination centre in Esch-Belval will close at 12 noon instead of 1pm on Saturday, 26 February 2022.

All vaccination spots closed on Mondays

Starting on Monday 28 February (inclusive), the 3 vaccination centres as well as the Pop Up stations in shopping centres and at Luxembourg Central station will be closed on Mondays.

The list of all new vaccination spots is continuously updated and can be consulted on covidvaccination.lu.

"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 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 seventh week of 2022 still shows a high prevalence of SARS-CoV-2 in wastewater at national level. The decrease in the flow of SARS-CoV-2, which began a couple of weeks ago, is again confirmed this week, although the values observed are still significant. This decrease is also still noticeable at all the treatment plants analysed.

The results of the next few weeks will be decisive in confirming 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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