Luxembourg's Ministry of Health, together with the National Health Laboratory (Laboratoire National de Santé - LNS) and the Luxembourg Institute of Science and Technology (LIST), have issued a COVID-19 retrospective for the period from 5 to 11 April 2021.

For the week in question, the number of people testing positive for COVID-19 decreased from 1,544 to 1,265 (down 18%) , whilst the number of their identified close contacts decreased from 3,808 to 3,122 (also down 18%) over one week. The number of PCR tests carried out last week also decreased, from 79,883 to 54,621.

137 individuals tested positive following a rapid antigen test.

As of Sunday 11 April 2021, the number of active infections stood at 3,126 (compared to 3,624 as of 4 April) and the number of people having recovered from the virus increased from 58,231 to 59,982. The average age of people diagnosed with COVID-19 increased to 37.5 years.

The number of weekly deaths also fell, from nineteen to twelve. The average age of those who died was 84.

In hospitals, there has been a decrease in admissions of confirmed COVID-19 patients in normal care, which fell from 111 to 104 over one week. The number of COVID-19 patients in intensive care increased slightly from 29 to 30 (these figures include one patient from the Grand Est in France).

The two COVID-19 consultation centres (CCC), located in Luxembourg-Kirchberg and Esch-sur-Alzette, have recorded a total of 12,190 visits to date, including 682 visits last week (compared to 586 the previous week).

For the reference period, the effective reproduction rate (RT eff) increased to 0.96 (compared to 0.86 the previous week), as did the positivity rate on all tests carried out, which rose from 1.93% to 2.32% (average over the week). The positivity rate on tests performed through a doctor's prescription (i.e. people with symptoms) increased from  4.01% to 5.22%.

The incidence rate was 202 cases per 100,000 inhabitants (down from 247) over seven days. Compared to the previous week, the incidence rate decreased across all age groups except among 60-74 yea-olds. The 15-29 age group recorded the largest decrease (down 30%) over one week, followed by the 30-44 (down 22%) and 75+ (down 20%) age groups. For the first time since September 2020, over-75s had the lowest incidence rate (123 cases per 100,000 inhabitants), followed by the 60-74 age group (149 cases per 100,000 inhabitants). Significantly lower incidence rates were observed in people over the age of 60 who have been the main target of the vaccination campaign so far.

For the week of 5 to 11 April, 3,198 people were in isolation (down 8%) and 3,440 were in quarantine (down 33%).

The family circle remained the most frequent context of transmission of COVID-19 infections (48.6%), followed by the education environment (4.7%) and the workplace (3.8%). The source of infection was not clearly attributable in 35.0% of cases.

Vaccinations: update

For the week of 5 to 11 April, a total of 24,403 vaccine doses were administered in Luxembourg: 14,973 people received their first dose whilst 9,430 people received their second dose. This brings the total number of vaccinations administered as of 13 April to 135,091.

According to the information available to date, Luxembourg will have a sufficient number of vaccines to vaccinate 127,840 people until the end of April 2021. However, allocations are likely to be adjusted from week to week according to production capacities in manufacturing and deliveries.

Evolution of variants

For the week of 29 March to 4 April 2021, population sequencing coverage was 30.7%, thus significantly higher than the optimal rate of 10% recommended by the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC) for a representative sample. 

Concerning the representative sampling of 529 samples carried out for week 13/2021, the following distribution can be observed:

  • the British (UK) variant (B.1.1.7) represented 74.1% of cases;
  • the South African (SA) variant (B.1.351) represented 19.4% of cases;
  • six cases of the Brazilian variant (P.1) were detected.

Wastewater monitoring

The latest CORONASTEP report drawn up by LIST indicated a continued high prevalence of the virus in wastewater nationwide. Nevertheless, a downward trend was observed throughout the week of 5 to 11 April.