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 5 to 11 July 2021.

Over one week, the number of people testing positive for COVID-19 increased from 787 to 828 (up 5%), whilst the number of their identified close contacts rose from 2,228 to 2,890 (up 30%).

The number of PCR tests carried out also increased, from 35,374 the week before to 43,284 last week.

Seventeen people reported a positive rapid antigen test for the reference week (up from ten the previous week), bringing the total number of positive results from such tests performed by healthcare professionals to 238. Since the introduction of self-tests, 786 positive results have been reported, with 91 cases for the week of 5 to 11 July (down from 182 the previous week). Note that positive rapid antigen tests are not taken into account in calculating the positivity rate.

As of Sunday 11 July 2021, the number of active infections stood at 1,547 (up from 825 as of 4 July) and the number of people having recovered from the virus increased from 69,786 to 69,891. The average age of people diagnosed with COVID-19 fell from 28.9 to 27.9 years.

One new COVID-19-related death was reported last week - the first since 1 June 2021

The number of confirmed COVID-19 patients in normal care doubled over one week, from three to six. The number of COVID-19 patients in intensive care remained stable at one. The average age of hospitalised patients fell slightly from 46 to 45 years.

For the reference period, the effective reproduction rate (RT eff) decreased from 2.10 to 0.93. The positivity rate on all tests carried out also fell, from 2.22% to 1.91%, whilst the positivity rate on tests performed through a doctor's prescription (i.e. people with symptoms) decreased from 5.94% à 4.49%.

Nevertheless, the incidence rate increased with 124 to 130 cases per 100,000 inhabitants over seven days. Compared to the previous week, the incidence rate increased across all age groups except among 30-44 year-olds who recorded a slight decrease (down 5%). The largest increase was recorded in the 0-14 age group (up 76%). A slight increase was recorded in the 15-29 (up 2%), 45-59 (up 5%) and 60-74 (up 6%) age groups. Note that 80% of all new cases last week were detected among 15-29 and 30-44 year-olds. The 60-74 and 75+ age groups continued to have the lowest incidence rates. 

For the week of 5 to 11 July, 1,563 people were in isolation (up 165%) and 2,576 were in quarantine (down 44%).

The family circle was once again the most frequent context of transmission of COVID-19 infections (22.5%), followed by leisure activities (20.3%), education (7.1%) and travel abroad (6.5%). The source of infection was not clearly attributable in 33.2% of cases.

Regarding the evolution of variants, data will be published every Friday on the LNS website.

Vaccinations: update

For the week of 5 to 11 July, a total of 37,143 vaccine doses were administered in Luxembourg. 20,766 people received their first dose whilst 16,377 people received their second dose, bringing the total number of vaccinations administered as of 14 July to 626,289. A total of 279,242 people have been fully vaccinated to date.

Wastewater monitoring 

The level of contamination of the thirteen sampled wastewater treatment plants studied by LIST during the week of 5 to 11 July was identical to that of the previous week. A similar trend was observed at the level of individual wastewater treatment plants. Analyses in the coming weeks should confirm this result.