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 7 to 13 February 2022.

During this period, the number of people testing positive for COVID-19 decreased from 11,003 to 5,871 cases (down 53%).

Among the 5,871 new infections, the incidence rate is 1,368 per 100,000 unvaccinated people and 749 per 100,000 people with a full vaccination schedule.

The number of PCR tests carried out decreased from 32,224 the week before to 24,341 last week.

65 people reported a positive rapid antigenic test for the reference week (down from 151 for the week before), bringing the total number of positive results from such tests performed by a healthcare professional to a total of 1,974. Note that positive rapid antigen tests are not taken into account in calculating the positivity rate.

As of 13 February 2022, the number of active infections stood at 17,119 (down from 26,222 as of 6 February 2022) and the number of people having recovered from the virus increased from 141,812 to 156,761. The average age of people diagnosed with COVID-19 is 31.3 years old.

Twelve new COVID-19-related deaths were reported last week. The average age of those who died is 80 years old.

In hospitals, the number of confirmed COVID-19 patients in normal care decreased from 73 to 64 over one week. The number of COVID-19 patients in intensive care decreased from  eleven to ten. The average age of hospitalised patients was 58.

Among the 64 hospitalised patients, 24 in normal care were not vaccinated against 40 patients who had a complete vaccination schedule, while four out of ten patients in intensive care were not vaccinated.

Positivity rate & incidence rate

For the reference period, the effective reproduction rate (RT eff) was down 0.54 compared to 0.72 the previous week, while the positivity rate on all the tests carried out (prescriptions, contact tracing) decreased from 34.14% to 24.12%.

The incidence rate decreased to 924 cases per 100,000 inhabitants over 7 days, compared to 1,733 cases per 100,000 inhabitants for the previous week.

Reinfections as well as certified self-tests in schools were included in the calculation of incidence rates. Compared to the previous week, the incidence rate decreased in all age groups. The lowest incidence rate is recorded among 75+ year olds (462 cases per 100,000 inhabitants) while the highest incidence rate is recorded among 0-14 year olds (2,036 cases per 100,000 inhabitants).

Quarantines & isolations

During the week, 25,788 people were in isolation (down 27%) and 3,073 in quarantine (down 50%).

Transmission

With the increase in the number of cases, it is difficult to determine all probable source of contamination of the week.

The family circle (40.8%) remains the most frequent source followed by work (5.4%), the aid and care sector (3.4%), travel abroad (3.3%) and leisure (3.1%). The rate of contaminations for which the source is not clearly attributable decreased to 37.6%.

Schools

During the week of 7 to 13 February 2022, one class in primary schools was affected by a scenario 4 with more than five positive cases in the class.

Vaccinations update

For the week of 7 to 13 February 2022, a total of 11,720 doses were administered. 889 people received a 1st dose, 3,053 a second and 6,713 people received an additional dose compared to a full schedule, bringing the total number of vaccines administered as of 16 February to 1,256,487.

466,145 people have a complete vaccination schedule, which corresponds to a vaccination rate of 77.6% compared to the vaccinable population (therefore the 5 years or older population).