Over the last 18 months, the LNS has played a pivotal role in Luxembourg’s response to COVID-19 by means of the Outreach activities of its microbiology department.

Outreach activities focused on COVID-19 PCR and serology testing but equally engaged in scientific projects that had national relevance.

With 171 722⁽¹⁾  SARS-CoV-2  and over 30 834 ⁽¹⁾ dry blood spot samples (DBS) collected as well as and active participation in two scientific projects, LNS Outreach activities showed  the ability of our organization to react in case of a pandemic but also emphasized the competences and passion of our teams.

LNS Outreach activities milestones:

• testing in the COVID consultation center at Luxembourg Kirchberg (19/10/2020 – 16/05/2021)
• launch of the COVID-19 driving-in test center at the LNS in Dudelange on 05/11/2020
• working together to make school testing happen (16/11/2020 – 16/07/2021 and 20/09/2021 – 10/12/2021)
• performing systematic PCR testing in nursing homes (20/09/2021 – 29/04/2022)
• supporting SARS-CoV-2 outbreak investigations (nursing homes, schools, and convent) (20/09/2021 – 29/04/2022)
• arranging dry blood testing (DBS) at testing centers (20/09/2021 – 31/12/2021)
• performing DBS on staff and the resident population in nursing homes and in logements encadrés, known as “Covvac Sero” (14/06/2021 – 31/12/2022)
• setting up and running rapid antigen testing for arrivals at the airport (02/01/2021 – 11/01/2021)

Nicolas Van Elsué, Coordinator in the LNS Microbiology department: “We have come a long way since the beginning of the Outreach activities; we had to overcome many challenges, but this gave the opportunity to learn from each other and work even closer together. Although the biggest part of Outreach activities is over, our drive-in will remain in operation and new projects such as collaborations with hospitals and scientific studies (VoiceMed) are in full preparation.”

The LNS would like to deeply thank its department of microbiology and more particularly its virology team, its nurses on the COVID-19 frontline for their commitment, its administrative and infrastructure functions for their support, its partners for their trust (the ministère de l’Éducation nationale, de l’Enfance et de la Jeunesse, the ministère de la Famille, de l’Intégration et à la Grande Région, the ministère de la Mobilité et des Travaux publics and the hospitals) and the ministry of Health and the Health Directorate who were key in making our Outreach activities running.

⁽¹⁾ Until 29/04/2022