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 February 2022.
During this period, the number of people testing positive for COVID-19 increased from to 3,648 to 4,670 cases (up 38%).
Among the 4,670 new infections, the incidence rate is 754 per 100,000 unvaccinated people and 728.6 per 100,000 people with a full vaccination schedule.
The number of PCR tests carried out increased from 15,271 the week before to 17,551 last week.
47 people reported a positive rapid antigenic test for the reference week (down from 50 for the week before), bringing the total number of positive results from such tests performed by a healthcare professional to a total of 2,071. Note that positive rapid antigen tests are not taken into account in calculating the positivity rate.
As of 27 February 2022, the number of active infections stood at 8,468 (down from 9,747 as of 20 February 2022) and the number of people having recovered from the virus increased from 167,775 to 173,717. The average age of people diagnosed with COVID-19 is 33.8 years old.
Seven new COVID-19-related deaths were reported last week. The average age of those who died is 79 years old.
In hospitals, the number of confirmed COVID-19 patients in normal care decreased from 42 to 21 over one week. The number of COVID-19 patients in intensive care decreased from nine to seven. The average age of hospitalised patients was 62.
Among the 21 hospitalised patients, twelve in normal care were not vaccinated against nine patients who had a complete vaccination schedule, while two out of seven patients in intensive care were not vaccinated.
Positivity rate & incidence rate
For the reference period, the effective reproduction rate (RT eff) was up 1.03 compared to 0.83 the previous week, while the positivity rate on all the tests carried out (prescriptions, contact tracing) increased from 23.89% to 26.61%.
The incidence rate increased to 736 cases per 100,000 inhabitants over 7 days, compared to 575 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 increased in all age groups. The lowest incidence rate is recorded among 60-74 year olds (403 cases per 100,000 inhabitants) while the highest incidence rate is recorded among 30-44 year olds (1,278 cases per 100,000 inhabitants).
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 (24.6%) remains the most frequent source followed by travel abroad (22.8%), leisure (5.3%), education (3.6%) and work (2.3%). The rate of contaminations for which the source is not clearly attributable decreased to 37.03%.
Vaccinations update
For the week of 21 to 27 February 2022, a total of 5,296 doses were administered. 535 people received a 1st dose, 1,531 a second, 2,643 people received a first additional dose and 587 people received a second additional dose compared to a full schedule, bringing the total number of vaccines administered as of 1 March 2022 to 1,264,971.
468,692 people have a complete vaccination schedule, which corresponds to a vaccination rate of 77.9% compared to the vaccinable population (therefore the 5 years or older population).
