Covid is gaining ground again: Luxembourg is tracking a new variant of NB.1.8.1

Five years after the start of the pandemic, Covid-19 continues to resurface. Having become an endemic virus, it regularly appears in public health reports - most often in winter. This time, however, the alarm bells are ringing just three weeks before summer. The reason is a new variant, NB.1.8.1, which has already caused spikes in the US and Asia and is now dominant in the UK, accounting for 60 per cent of new cases.

The new variant has not yet been officially recorded in Luxembourg, the Ministry of Health said. But this does not mean that it is absent. As the ministry explains, due to the low infection rate, the number of tests and subsequent genome sequencing is limited. This means that NB.1.8.1 may already be circulating in the country - it just hasn't been detected in the laboratory yet.

In the last week, 61 cases of Covid-19 have been reported, almost double the number of the previous week (37 cases). In parallel, wastewater monitoring shows an increase in virus signal, albeit from a low level.

So far, the authorities have no plans to introduce new sanitary measures. The World Health Organisation reports that NB.1.8.1, although more infectious, does not cause more severe forms of the disease. However, the Ministry of Health emphasises that it remains vigilant and is monitoring the situation both nationally and internationally.