Daily roundupFriday's key coronavirus developments from Luxembourg and abroad

Starting with Luxembourg:

• [block type="summary”]The latest figures from the Ministry of Health show that 182 new cases of coronavirus were discovered yesterday. Six more deaths were also recorded.

  • Compared to France, Luxembourg’s hospital staff are much less reluctant to be vaccinated against Covid-19. According to the Federation of Luxembourg Hospitals, the vaccination rate will rise from the current 68% to over 90% after the second vaccination phase.
  • Luxembourg’s cleaners are seeking better working conditions amid continued strain from the pandemic. Their demands? A one-off €500 premium and guarantees of two days off a week.

  And abroad

  • The World Health Organization said Friday there was no reason to stop using AstraZeneca’s Covid-19 vaccine after several European countries suspended the roll-out over blood clot fears - including Luxembourg.
  • France concurred, with health minister Olivier Veran confirming they will continue to use the AstraZeneca vaccine. Also in France, pharmaceutical firm Sanofi announced the launch of human trials for a new Covid-19 vaccine on Friday as it looks to recover from early failures and restore dented French pride.
  • Thailand took a different path on Friday, joining several European nations in suspending the AstraZeneca vaccine over blood clot fears, despite a range of health authorities around the world insisting it was safe.
  • The Italian government announced a partial lockdown of most of Italy from Monday. The populous northern regions including Lombardy, which surrounds Milan, as well as others including Lazio, which surrounds Rome, will be designated “red zones” from Monday, the health ministry said.
  • US biotech firm Novavax’s Covid-19 vaccine was shown to be 100 percent protective against severe cases of the disease, including hospitalization and death, the company said Thursday following trials. The good news came as President Biden offered his Covid-weary nation a tantalizing glimpse of an almost normal July 4th, outlining in a speech how the United States can defeat the coronavirus if people stay united on prevention measures and get vaccinated.
  • Austria’s chancellor Sebastian Kurz on Friday suggested that some European countries may have signed “secret contracts” with vaccine companies to receive more jabs than they were entitled to based on EU rules.
  • Wimbledon chiefs ruled on Friday that players at this year’s tournament must stay in official hotels as part of strict coronavirus control measures. The All England Club is determined to minimise the risks to the event, which was cancelled last year for the first time since World War Two.
  • Monoclonal antibody treatments have been much-hyped. But could such treatments, using lab-made versions of the body’s natural infection-fighting defences, become a crucial tool in the pandemic fight, alongside vaccines?
  • Finally, their highly superior sense of smell has long been used to sniff out drugs, weapons and dead bodies. Now Latin America’s crime-fighting police dogs are being trained to detect Covid-19.