Wednesday's key coronavirus developments in Luxembourg and abroad

Starting with Luxembourg

• The latest figures from the Ministry of Health show that 190 new cases of coronavirus were discovered yesterday.
  
  
• Six cases of the B1.1.7 coronavirus variant first recorded in the UK have been detected in Luxembourg, according to analyses carried out at the National Health Laboratory (LNS).

• The vaccination campaign has been criticised for starting too slowly, with around 2,000 people vaccinated thus far (as of 11 January 2021).
• Police reported 200 violations of health regulations out of 430 checks last week.
  
  
• Retail has not bounced back from the last lockdown, although shops were allowed to re-open under strict conditions on Monday. 
  
  

And around the world

• The novel coronavirus has killed at least 1,963,557 people since the outbreak emerged in China in December 2019, according to an AFP tally from official sources at 1100 GMT on Wednesday.
  
  
• The United States endured its worst day of the pandemic, with three Americans dying every minute, as Japan and China on Wednesday joined other nations in tightening virus restrictions and Russia prepared to begin its mass vaccination campaign.
  
  
• First data compiled from over 400,000 vacinees that have received the BioNTech/Pfizer jab in Israel shows that the vaccine curbs infections by 50% 14 days after the first jab was administered.
  
  
• As the British coronavirus variant occupies countries' pandemic plans due to its increased transmissibility, other mutations to the Sars-CoV-2 are provoking concern among scientists who are scrambling to work out if they will still respond to vaccines.
• The Netherlands is extending coronavirus restrictions until February 9 as infections are still high and the government is "very concerned" about the UK variant of the disease, Prime Minister Mark Rutte said Tuesday.
  
  
• Switzerland announced tough new restrictions Wednesday in a pre-emptive strike against a feared third wave of the Covid-19 pandemic caused by quicker-spreading variants of the virus.

• Russian President Vladimir Putin on Wednesday tasked officials with launching mass coronavirus vaccinations from next week, touting Russia's homemade jab as the world's best.
• In the midst of a third wave of coronavirus infections, Ireland now holds the unhappy title of the nation with the highest transmission rate in the world.
  
  
• Portugal's President Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa has now tested negative for coronavirus after a positive test that saw him cancel all public engagements, his office said Tuesday, two weeks before an election he is set to win.
  
  
• Indonesian President Joko Widodo received the country's first Covid-19 jab Wednesday, as the sprawling archipelago of nearly 270 million kicked off a mass vaccination drive to clamp down on soaring case rates.
  
  
• A Chinese city deployed robots to take Covid-19 throat swabs on Wednesday, as the country ramps up mass testing to stamp out local coronavirus outbreaks.