Luxembourg on 11 March removed its mask mandate, except on public transport, hospitals, care homes and prisons, as well scrapping the CovidCheck regime that had limited access to venues and activities to people who are vaccinated, recovered or tested negative.

For the week of 14 to 20 March, there was a 30% increase in the number of infections diagnosed. There were 7,779 new cases, up from 5,968 the week before. However, already in the week before--7 to 13 March--numbers were rising as a more infectious sub-variant of the omicron mutation spread more widely.

Family was cited as the source of infection in a third of cases, followed by education (13%), leisure activities (7%), the workplace (5.2%) and foreign travel (4.7%). In more than a quarter of cases, however, there was no clearly identifiable source.

The number of patients hospitalised with a coronavirus infection remains low, with 33 patients in regular care and four in intensive care as of Tuesday, the latest data available.

The country’s vaccination rate meanwhile is stagnating--78.4% last week compared to 78.3% the week before--as only 141 people received a first jab in the last week. The government this week announced a helpline for vaccine sceptics who have questions and want more information about the inoculation.

Plans for a vaccine mandate for over-50s and healthcare staff are still under discussion amid warnings of waning immunity, the risk of new variants and a potential resurgence of the pandemic next autumn.