Daily roundupSaturday's key coronavirus developments from Luxembourg and abroad

Starting with Luxembourg:

• [block type="summary”]The latest figures from the Ministry of Health show that 197 new cases of coronavirus were discovered yesterday. Seven more deaths were also recorded.

  • In an interview on RTL Radio on Saturday, the former Minister of Finance Luc Frieden stressed that the government needs to step up the pace of its vaccination campaign.

  And abroad

  • The European Union is facing further shortfalls in its coronavirus inoculation programme after Anglo/Swedish pharmaceutical giant AstraZeneca said production problems and export restrictions would reduce planned deliveries of its vaccine.
  • US workers and families will start to see stimulus funds go into their bank accounts as soon as this weekend, just days after President Joe Biden signed the $1.9 trillion rescue plan into law.
  • There was a fiercely political air at France’s annual celebration of cinema, Les Cesars, on Friday as frustrations were unleashed over the months-long shutdown of theatres.
  • India will carry out a deeper review of post-vaccination side effects from the AstraZeneca shot next week although no cases of blood clots have been reported so far, an official told AFP Saturday.
  • Schools, restaurants, shops and museums were ordered Friday to close across most of Italy from next week, after Prime Minister Mario Draghi warned of a “new wave” of coronavirus infections.
  • Russia’s Sputnik V vaccine has sown division among former Eastern Bloc countries, analysts say, with some seeing it as a godsend and others as a Kremlin propaganda tool.
  • Finally, learning to tell your elephant ears from your flamingo flowers has become the latest virus lockdown escape in Malaysia, where houseplants are very much in season.