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), has issued a COVID-19 retrospective for the week of 21 to 27 June 2021.
Over one week, the number of people testing positive for COVID-19 increased slightly from 90 to 107 (up 19%), whilst the number of their identified close contacts continued to fall, from 396 to 353 (down 11.1%).
The number of PCR tests carried out last week fell from 46,365 to 39,181.
Seventeen people reported a positive rapid antigen test for the reference week, bringing the total number of positive results from such tests performed by healthcare professionals to 211. Since the introduction of self-tests, 513 positive results have been reported, with no cases for the week of 21 to 27 June. Note that positive rapid antigen tests are not taken into account in calculating the positivity rate.
As of Sunday 27 June 2021, the number of active infections was down again with 142 (compared to 234 as of 20 June) and the number of people having recovered from the virus increased from 69,483 to 69,682. The average age of people diagnosed with COVID-19 increased from 27.7 to 28.4 years.
The week of 21 to 27 June was the third week in which no COVID-19-related deaths had been recorded since that of 21 to 27 September 2020. Two deaths were recorded the previous week.
The situation remains relaxed in hospitals, with the number of confirmed COVID-19 patients in normal care halving (from six to three) over one week. The number of COVID-19 patients in intensive care remained stable at two. The average age of hospitalised patients fell from 64 to 60 years.
For the reference period, the effective reproduction rate (RT eff) increased from 0.58 to 0.92 and the positivity rate on all tests carried out rose from 0.19% to 0.27% (average over the week). The same trend could be observed for the positivity rate on tests performed through a doctor's prescription (i.e. people with symptoms), which increased from 0.58% to 0.95%.
The incidence rate also increased slightly, with seventeen cases per 100,000 inhabitants (up from fourteen) over seven days. Compared to the previous week, the incidence rate increased substantially in the 15-29 (up 108%) and 45-59 age groups (up 40%). The authorities noted that the latter increase was due to four additional cases. The 0-14 age group recorded a decrease (down 34%). The 60-74 and 75+ age groups recorded the lowest incidence rates; neither group recorded any cases in the previous week.
For the week of 21 to 27 June, 287 people were in isolation (down 38%) and 370 were in quarantine (down 28%).
The family circle remained the most frequent context of transmission of COVID-19 infections (21.5%), followed by travel abroad (15%), leisure (13.1%) and education (8.3%). The source of infection was not clearly attributable in 40.2% of cases.
Vaccinations: update
For the week of 21 to 27 June, a total of 44,062 vaccine doses were administered in Luxembourg. 35,613 people received their first dose whilst 8,448 people received their second dose, bringing the total number of vaccinations administered as of 30 June to 542,793. A total of 232,222 people have been fully vaccinated to date.
Evolution of variants
For technical reasons, variant sequencing data was not available in time for the publication of this weekly report. They will be published shortly on the LNS website.
Wastewater monitoring
The level of contamination of the thirteen sampled wastewater treatment plants studied by LIST has shown a constant downward trend in recent weeks, with some showing contamination levels close to or below the detection limits. Analyses in the coming weeks should confirm this result.
