Reported flu cases in Luxembourg; Credit: MSAN/LNS/LIST

Luxembourg's Ministry of Health, the National Health Laboratory (Laboratoire National de Santé - LNS) and the Luxembourg Institute of Science and Technology (LIST) have published a review of the week of 30 January to 5 February 2023 in relation to respiratory infections, namely COVID-19 and influenza (flu).

COVID-19

For the week in question, the number of people testing positive for COVID-19 increased to 835 cases, up 32.6% from 630 cases the previous week. 50.7% of COVID-19 cases were reinfections (down from 52.5% the previous week).

There were two new COVID-19-related deaths during the week in question (down from three); the average age of the deceased was 64 years.

In hospitals, there were five new admissions of confirmed COVID-19 patients to normal care (compared to four one week earlier). There was one patient in intensive care. The average age of hospitalised patients was 65 years.

Vaccinations

For the week of 30 January to 5 February 2023, 268 COVID-19 doses were administered: five people received a first dose, five received a second dose, 33 received a first additional dose compared to a complete vaccination schedule, 196 received a second additional dose and 29 received a third additional dose. No one received a fourth additional dose. The total number of vaccines administered as of Monday 6 February 2023 was thus 1,293,051.

A total of 487,905 people have a complete vaccination schedule, which corresponds to a vaccination rate of 79% of the eligible population (i.e. those aged five and over).

The Victor Hugo vaccination centre in Luxembourg-Limpertsberg will close its doors on Friday 10 February 2023 at 19:00. Similarly, the pop-up vaccination centre in the Belval Plaza shopping centre (first floor) in Esch-Belval will close on Friday 17 February 2023 at 16:00.

Other vaccination-related information is available online at https://impfen.lu/en/.

Variants

Data relating to the sequencing of COVID-19 variants are published in the REVILUX report on the LNS website: https://lns.lu/publications/. Currently, the Omicron BQ.1 variant remains dominant, representing 40.3% during week 4 of 2023 (53.5% during week 3). The recombinant XBB.1.5 variant represented 18.4% during week 4 (7.6% during week 3).

Wastewater monitoring

LIST draws up the CORONASTEP report every fiteen days. According to the latest report, the level of contamination of the thirteen wastewater treatment plants analysed during weeks 4 and 5 of 2023 showed a still high prevalence of SARS-CoV-2 in wastewater. In general, the current trend is leaning towards the stabilisation of the SARS-CoV-2 genome flows observed, with contamination levels comparable to those of the first weeks of the year, despite a slight increase detected locally during week 4. All CORONASTEP reports are available on the LIST website: https://www.list.lu/en/covid-19/coronastep/.

Flu

For the week of 30 January to 5 February 2023, the number of flu cases reported by laboratories increased to 207 cases, up 7.8% from 192 the previous week.