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 13 to 19 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 decreased to 837 cases, down 7.8% from 908 cases the previous week. 50.2% of COVID-19 cases were reinfections (up from 50.0% the previous week).
There was one new COVID-19-related death during the week in question; the average age of the deceased was 88 years.
In hospitals, there were eleven new admissions of confirmed COVID-19 patients to normal care (compared to thirteen one week earlier). There were no patients in intensive care. The average age of hospitalised patients was 65 years.
Vaccinations
For the week of 13 to 19 February 2023, 108 COVID-19 doses were administered: one person received a first dose, two received a second dose, 23 received a first additional dose compared to a complete vaccination schedule, 76 received a second additional dose and six received a third additional dose. No one received a fourth additional dose. The total number of vaccines administered as of Monday 20 February 2023 was thus 1,293,137.
The authorities noted that a technical error occurred in the transmission of figures concerning people with a complete vaccination schedule for the week of 6 to 12 February 2023: these figures included non-residents. The following figure, for the week of 13 to 19 February 2023, includes residents only: a total of 474,965 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).
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 recombinant XBB.1.5 variant is predominant, representing 34.5% during week 6 of 2023 (up from 29.8% during week 4). The Omicron BQ.1 variant accounted for 30.0% during week 6 (down from 42.7% during week 5). The recombinant XBB.1.5 variant represented 29.8% during week 5 (18.4% during week 4).
Wastewater monitoring
LIST draws up its CORONASTEP report every fifteen days. According to the latest report, the level of contamination of the thirteen wastewater treatment plants analysed during weeks 6 and 7 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 2023. All CORONASTEP reports are available on the LIST website: https://www.list.lu/en/covid-19/coronastep/.
Flu
For the week of 13 to 19 February 2023, the number of flu cases reported by laboratories increased from 240 to 242, i.e. an increase of 0.8% compared to the previous week. Currently, Influenza B is predominant.
The LNS microbiology department, in collaboration with the Health Directorate and a network of sentinel general practitioners and paediatricians spread across the country, carries out sentinel surveillance every year. Data relating to this are published in the REVILUX report on the LNS website (see above).
