In its latest COVID-19 report, Luxembourg's Ministry of Health confirmed that most recent COVID-19 infections could still be traced back to household transmission.
For the week of 5 to 11 October 2020, the number of residents testing positive (806) for COVID-19 was up 47% compared to the previous week. The number of identified contacts also increased by 50% (to 6,868). The number of PCR tests carried out on residents was 39,651 compared to 38,735 for the week before.
As of Thursday 8 October 2020, the number of active infections stood at 1,364 (compared to 1,006 as of 4 October) and the number of people having recovered from the illness increased from 7,792 to 8,234. Hospital capacities were more in demand than during the previous week, with six new deaths related to COVID-19.
The effective reproduction rate (RT eff) increased from 1.17 to 1.37 and the positivity rate on the tests carried out was 2.03% compared to 1.42% (weekly average) the previous week. The seven-day incidence rate was 129 per 100,000 inhabitants, respectively 217 cases per 100,000 inhabitants over fourteen days.
The average age of people diagnosed with COVID-19 dropped slightly from 37.6 to 36.8 years. However, the evolution of the incidence rate shows a recent increase for all age groups. The 15-29 age group is currently the most affected with an incidence rate twice as high as that of the rest of the population. There was also a fairly strong increase in the incidence among people aged 60-74 and 75 and over. Currently, an incidence rate of 50 per 100,000 is exceeded for all age groups.
Last week, 1,993 people were in quarantine (up 33% compared to the previous week) whilst 1,125 were in isolation (up 3%).
Regarding sources of infection, 25% of new cases were related to household transmission, whilst 12% (up from 7%) of cases were linked to the education sector. In addition, 5% (down from 8%) of cases were related to the professional environment, 3% were related to leisure (up from 1%), 3% (down from 5%) were related to the assistance and care sector, another 3% (up from 2%) were linked to celebrations with friends and family and 2% (down from 3%) were linked to shared accommodation. Cases related to travel abroad continued to decline (from 13% to 7% over one week).
