New COVID-19 Cases Down 3%, No. of Identified Contacts Drop 29% over 1 Week

In its latest COVID-19 report, Luxembourg's Ministry of Health confirmed that the number of COVID-19 cases was down 2.9% last week compared to the week before.

For the week of 9 to 15 November 2020, the number of residents testing positive for COVID-19 continued to decrease slightly, from 4,133 to 4,013 over one week. However, the number of identified contacts also decreased significantly to 8,937 (down 29%). The number of PCR tests carried out was 67,734 compared to 69,076 the week before.

As of Sunday 15 November 2020, the number of active infections stood at 9,286 (down from 9,622 on 8 November) and the number of people having recovered from the virus increased from 13,424 to 17,734. 39 new COVID-19-related deaths were recorded (compared to 35 the week before), with the average age of those who died standing at 85.

The relatively stable but high number of people testing positive for the virus was also reflected in hospitals, especially in normal care, with a slight increase in patients in intensive care. 

The effective reproduction rate (RT eff) rose from 0.81 to 0.98 and the positivity rate on the tests carried out was 5.92% compared to 5.98% (weekly average) the previous week. The incidence rate was 641 (down from 660) cases per 100,000 inhabitants over seven days and 1,315 cases per 100,000 inhabitants over fourteen days. The rate increased among 15-29 and 30-34 year-olds, whilst the downward trend continued in all other age groups. The 15-29 age group was the most affected, followed by the 75+ and 30-34 age groups. The trend reversed among 0-14 year-olds, decreasing slightly and remaining lower than among adults. The average age of people diagnosed with COVID-19 dropped from 41.4 to 40.6 years.

Last week, 8,776 people were in isolation and 7,874 were in quarantine (down 11% from the previous week). 

For many cases, the source of infection remained unclear. The Health Ministry recalled that, in view of the high number of new infections, it is not possible at present to identify the source of every case. 

Like the previous week, wastewater sampling was carried out across three separate days (Monday, Wednesday and Friday) during the week of 9 to 15 November. The latest CORONASTEP report by the Luxembourg Institute of Science and Technology (LIST) showed that the level of SARS-CoV-2 contamination was very comparable to those observed during the two previous weeks. Contamination levels remained very high in the thirteen analysed wastewater treament plants, indicating a very high prevalence of the virus in wastewater. Data collected last week did not confirm the slight downward trend observed the previous week.