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 12 to 18 April 2021.

For the week in question, the number of people testing positive for COVID-19 continued to decrease slightly from 1,265 to 1,261 (down 1%). The number of their identified close contacts also decreased from 3,122 to 2,943 contacts (down 6%) over one week. On the other hand, the number of PCR tests carried out last week increased from 54,621 to 60,360.

149 individuals tested positive following a rapid antigen test.

As of Sunday 18 April 2021, the number of active infections stood at 2,828 (compared to 3,186 as of 11 April) and the number of people having recovered from the virus increased from 59,982 to 61,530. The average age of people diagnosed with COVID-19 decreased to 36.7 years.

The number of weekly deaths also continued to decline, from twelve to eight. The average age of those who died was 73.

In hospitals, there has been a decrease in admissions of confirmed COVID-19 patients in normal care, which fell from 104 to 84 over one week. The number of COVID-19 patients in intensive care increased from 30 to 33 (these figures include one patient from the Grand Est in France). The average age of hospitalised patients also continued to decrease (from 61 to 57).

The two COVID-19 consultation centres (CCC), located in Luxembourg-Kirchberg and Esch-sur-Alzette, have recorded a total of 12,687 visits to date, including 497 visits last week (compared to 682 the previous week).

For the reference period, the effective reproduction rate (RT eff) decreased from 0.95 to 0.91, as did the positivity rate on all tests carried out, which fell from 2.32% to 2.09% (average over the week). The positivity rate on tests performed through a doctor's prescription (i.e. people with symptoms) increased from 5.21% to 5.88%.

The incidence rate remained rather stable with 201 cases per 100,000 inhabitants (down from 202) over seven days. Compared to the previous week, the incidence rate decreased across all age groups except among 15-29 year-olds (up 10%). The 60-74 age group recorded the largest decrease (down 17%) over one week, followed by the 75+ (down 14%) age group. Over-75s had the lowest incidence rate (106 cases per 100,000 inhabitants), followed by the 60-74 age group (124 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 12 to 18 April, 2,917 people were in isolation (down 9%) and 2,987 were in quarantine (down 13%).

The family circle remained the most frequent context of transmission of COVID-19 infections (42.6%), followed by the workplace (4.8%), leisure (4.3%) and trips abroad (3.5%). The source of infection was not clearly attributable in 38.8% of cases.

Vaccinations: update

For the week of 12 to 18 April, a total of 33,812 vaccine doses were administered in Luxembourg: 22,065 people received their first dose whilst 11,747 people received their second dose. This brings the total number of vaccinations administered as of 20 April to 165,515.

Evolution of variants

For the week of 5 to 11 April 2021, population sequencing coverage was 50.7%, 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 661 samples carried out for week 14/2021, the following distribution can be observed:

  • the British (UK) variant (B.1.1.7) represented 81.4% of cases;
  • the South African (SA) variant (B.1.351) represented 14.2% of cases;
  • the Brazilian variant (P.1) represented 1.1% of cases.

Wastewater monitoring

The latest CORONASTEP report drawn up by LIST indicated a moderate prevalence of the virus in wastewater nationwide. Nevertheless, a downward trend was observed throughout the week of 12 to 18 April 2021.