COVID-19 cases - Weekly review: 12 - 18 July

For the week of 12 to 18 July, the number of people testing positive for COVID-19 has decreased from 829 to 727 cases (-12%), as well as the number of their identified close contacts, which dropped to 2,431, compared to 2,890 cases the week before (-16%).

The number of PCR tests performed during the week of 12 to 18 July has increased from 43,303 to 49,879.

9 people reported a positive rapid antigen test (RAT) for the reporting week (compared to 17 in the previous week), bringing the number of positive results performed by a health-care worker to a total of 247. Since the introduction of self-tests, 786 positive results have been reported, with 0 cases for the week of 12 to 18 July (compared to 91 reports the previous week). It should be noted that positive rapid antigen tests are not included in the calculation of the positivity rate.

As of 18 July, the number of active infections has decreased to 1,498 (compared to 1,553 on 11 July), while the number of people healed increased from 69,886 to 70,666. The average age of those diagnosed as positive for COVID-19 remained fairly stable at 27.5 years, compared to 27.9.

For the week of 12 to 18 July, 2 new deaths related to COVID-19 have been reported.

In the hospitals, there were 8 new admissions of confirmed COVID-19 patients in normal care, compared to 6 the previous week. The number of occupied beds in the intensive care unit remained stable at 4. The average age of inpatients increased only slightly (from 45 to 48 years).

Positivity rate and incidence rate

For the reference period, the effective reproduction rate (R) decreased from 0.95 to 0.89, as well as the positivity rate on all tests performed (prescription, Large Scale Testing, contact tracing) with 1.46% compared to 1.91% the previous week. The positivity rate for tests carried out on prescription, i.e. for people with symptoms, decreased from 4.49% to 4.20%.

The 7-day incidence rate decreased to 115 per 100,000 residents, compared to 130 per 100,000 residents the previous week.

Compared to the previous week, the incidence rate increased in all age groups except for the 15-29 and 30-44 year olds, which show a decrease (-16% and -26%). The greatest increase was recorded in the 60-74 age group (+47%). An increase was recorded in the 0-14 (+16%), 45-59 (+14%) and 75+ (+16%) age groups.

74% of all cases last week were in the age groups 15-29 and 30-44 years.

Quarantine and isolation

During the week of 12 to 18 July, 1,965 people were in isolation (+26%) and 1,801 in quarantine (-30%).

Contaminations

For the 727 new cases, the family circle is the most frequent source of transmission of COVID-19 infections, with 25.2%, followed by leisure activities (16.7%), education (8.6%) and travel abroad (8.2%). The rate of contamination for which the source is not clearly attributable increased from 33.2 to 35.3%.

Vaccinations: update on the situation

For the week of 12 to 18 July, a total of 38,367 doses were administered. 13,457 people received a 1st dose and 24,909 a 2nd dose, bringing the total number of vaccines administered as of 21 July to 665,316 (1st and 2nd dose). 309,600 people have a complete vaccination pattern.

The evolution of the variants

Variant sequencing data are published every Friday on the website of the National Health Laboratory (Laboratoire national de Santé, LNS) https://lns.lu/en/departement/department-of-microbiology/revilux/.

Wastewater monitoring in Luxembourg as part of SARS-CoV-2 

The level of contamination of the 13 sampled wastewater treatment plants studied by the LIST (Luxembourg Institute of Science and Technology) during the week of 12 to 18 July confirms the stabilisation of the SARS-CoV-2 flux values at the high level observed since the beginning of July. A similar trend is observed at the level of individual wastewater treatment plants. It should be noted that the floods that affected the country at the end of the week of 12 to 18 July disrupted the monitoring of contaminations in wastewater at the end of the week.

All CORONASTEP reports are available on the LIST website: https://www.list.lu/en/covid-19/coronastep/.

Press release by the Ministry of Health, the Laboratoire national de santé (LNS) and the Luxembourg Institute of Science and Technology (LIST)

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