684 people tested positive during the week of 13-19 July 2020;
Credit: MSAN
At a press briefing this afternoon, Luxembourg's Minister of Health Paulette Lenert provided an overview of the evolution of COVID-19 in the Grand Duchy over the past week.
From 13 to 19 July 2020, Luxembourg recorded a total of 684 new infections (compared to 402 the week before). Test numbers also increased from 64,454 to 94,031.
The Health Minister confirmed that it was once again namely younger people who recently contracted the virus, with the average age of recently infected individuals standing at 35.5 (35.9 the week before). The average age of patients hospitalised with COVID-19 also fell slightly from 59 to 57 over one week and was significantly lower than that recorded in the earlier stages of the health crisis.
Minister Paulette Lenert also announced that 44% of people who recently tested positive for coronavirus had already been in quarantine before getting their test results back. A total of 876 people were in isolation (compared to 566 one week prior), whilst 2,175 were in quarantine last week (compared to 1,255 the week before). The Health Minister added that large-scale testing had detected 13% of positive cases, although it accounted for over 75% of tests carried out during this period. This means that most infections were detected through the standard testing of symptomatic individuals.
Regarding the introduction of free testing for Luxembourg residents wishing to travel abroad this summer, Health Minister Paulette Lenert confirmed that the authorities had already received some 3,000 requests. To date, 1,388 requests have been approved, whilst 819 were denied a test because they plan to travel to countries where restrictions do not apply. For those entering Luxembourg from abroad, Luxembourg Airport carried out a total of 2,388 tests last week (compared to 1,972 two weeks ago), including 958 on non-residents; 22 individuals tested positive (six the week before).
Whilst no "superspreader" events were discovered last week, the Ministry of Health identified 33 virus clusters (where three or more people test positive for the virus in one specific location within seven days). Twelve clusters were found in schools, five in the care sector, three in the hospitality sector, six in the construction sector and three in the cleaning sector. Minister Paulette Lenert recalled that private gatherings and failure to respect sanitary measures and barrier gestures remain the main source of new COVID-19 infections.
