Daily roundupMonday's key coronavirus developments from Luxembourg and abroad

Starting with Luxembourg

• The latest figures from the Ministry of Health show that 54 new cases of coronavirus were discovered yesterday from 1,016 tests. There were five new deaths, bringing the total toll to 760.

• Following a government announcement on 25 March that Minister of Health Paulette Lenert had been unwell and was briefly hospitalised, Minister of Social Security Romain Schneider will take over responsibilities in caretaker duty until 19 April.

• “We cannot have Merkel decide whether cafes on Place d’Armes can open”: In ‘Times like Covid’, RTL Today interviews people from different professions and backgrounds on how the ongoing pandemic has shaped their lives. This week we speak to Felipe Carrillo, a coffee chain owner in Luxembourg.

And around the world

• Persistent questions on whether rare but serious blood clots among those getting the AstraZeneca jab against Covid-19 are more frequent than in the general population, and what causes them if they are, have continued to undermine confidence in the beleaguered vaccine. Here is an overview.

• A group of bar, karaoke and mahjong parlour owners have gone on a symbolic hunger strike in Hong Kong over anti-coronavirus measures that have kept them shuttered for most of the last year.

• Portugal on Monday reopened museums, cafe terraces and secondary schools nearly two months after tightening Covid-19 curbs following a wave of cases early this year. Tourists are kept out until 15 April.

• Starting Tuesday, terraces in neighbouring Saarland will be able to open again. However, guests have to register beforehand and provide contact information. Furthermore, up to ten people are allowed to gather outside, but only if everyone is able to show a negative test result. A negative test also gives one the ability to visit cinemas and theatres.

• A report by a French television channel alleging “clandestine” luxury dinners in Paris despite the pandemic has sparked an investigation and a political furore over the claims the elite were brazenly ignoring rules they themselves had set.

• A Norwegian who tried to ski around his country’s virus quarantine system by skiing back from Sweden had to be rescued after bad weather thwarted his expedition, emergency services said Monday.

• Germany‘s Minister of Health Jens Spahn expects at least 20% of the country’s population to have received a first jab by the end of April, he said in Berlin on Monday while visiting a vaccination centre.

• Greece on Monday relaxed a nationwide lockdown by opening most retail shops despite a steady level of Covid-19 infections and double-digit fatalities.