280+ Students, Teachers Test Positive for COVID-19 since Start of School Year

Luxembourg's Ministry of Education, Children and Youth presented today a quantitative assessment of students and teachers having tested positive for COVID-19.

Between 2 and 9 October 2020, no new chain of infection was observed in primary and secondary schools in Luxembourg. There were no positive cases attributed to a "scenario 3" (chain of infection with several cases linked by an intra-school infection) during this period, although 25 cases corresponding to a “scenario 2” (max. two positive cases in a class with an uncertain source of infection / probably outside class) was observed in schools.

The ministry noted that an increase in the number of "scenario 1" cases (children and young people infected outside school without there having been any spread of the virus at school) during this period was directly linked to the evolution of the spread of the virus in the general population and reflected the recent rise in the number of positive cases in the country.

Since the start of the school year on 15 September 2020, two "scenario 3" cases have been observed so far, affecting a total of four students and four teachers. In the first case, a chain of infection could be identified in a secondary school. The source of infection was a weight training session. In the second case, a chain of infection was identified in a primary school, involving several infected teachers involved in the same learning cycle.

"Scenario 2" cases implicated 23 students and three teachers in public primary education, 37 students and five teachers in public secondary education and fifteen students and two teachers in private secondary education.

"Scenario 1" cases have been observed among 57 students and 23 teachers in public primary education, 80 students and nine teachers in public secondary education, two students in private primary education and fourteen students and four teachers in private secondary education.

 A total of 232 students and 50 teachers have thus tested positive for coronavirus since schools reopened in September.