Daily roundupFriday's key coronavirus developments from Luxembourg and abroad

Starting with Luxembourg

• The latest figures from Luxembourg show that 219 new cases of coronavirus were recorded over the last 24 hours.

• One year ago, the number of hospitalisations related to Covid-19 reached an all-time high in Luxembourg. While there are fewer patients now, clinics are still approaching a critical threshold.

• The conversational tone in discussions related to the pandemic, vaccinations, and the CovidCheck system is becoming increasingly hostile. Our colleague from RTL.lu spoke to a sociology student about the chat groups on Telegram.

• The latest Covid-19 law does not stipulate any sanctions in the event that an employee refuses to show their QR code, according to Gilles Dall’Agnol, a lawyer for law firm Allen & Overy who specialises in labour law.

And abroad

• Pfizer said Friday that a clinical trial of its first pill to treat Covid-19 shows it is highly effective.

• A journalist jailed for her coverage of China’s initial response to Covid in Wuhan is close to death after going on hunger strike, her family said, prompting renewed calls from rights groups for her immediate release.

• France‘s lower house of parliament on Friday voted to allow the government to make use of a health pass to fight against Covid-19 to 31 July 2022.

• Japan said Friday it will allow short-term business travellers, foreign students and other visa holders to enter the country, but tourists are still barred.

• On Friday, Germany recorded 35,145 new Covid cases - the highest figure since the beginning of the pandemic.
  The previous high was recorded on 17 December 2020 with 31,051 new infections in one day. 140 deaths from the virus were also recorded.

• 11US states have launched legal action to challenge Joe Biden’s federal vaccine requirement plan for workers at companies with more than 100 employees.