Daily roundupSaturday's key coronavirus developments from Luxembourg and abroad

Starting with Luxembourg

• The Ministry of Health does not release Covid figures during the weekend, but latest figures from Luxembourg show that 349 new cases of coronavirus were discovered, with one more death added to the toll.

• Several anti-Covid protests broke out today in Luxembourg. Read our brief summary and look through our gallery here.

• A second initiative took place last week to offer the jab to Luxembourg’s homeless population, following the success of the summer campaign.

• On Friday, the Health Directorate published an eighth report compiling information on coronavirus vaccine side effects.

• In light of the Omicron variant spreading rapidly across Europe, RTL asks if pregnant women should be considered a priority for getting the Covid booster.

• Nurse Agnes Daemen, intensive care medic Jean Reuter, psychiatrist Jean-Marc Cloos, and the head of Luxembourg’s medical board, Dr Pit Buchler, talked about misinformation, vaccines, and rising tensions with our colleagues from RTL Radio on Saturday afternoon.

• The public prosecutor issued search warrants for residences in eastern Luxembourg as a result of the violent demonstrations which broke out in the capital over the last two weekends.

And abroad

• A US federal appeals court Friday reinstated a Biden administration mandate that large companies require Covid-19 vaccines for their employees, after the move was halted in court in November.

• Following Beijing’s lead, Hong Kong has maintained some of the world’s strictest quarantine measures and travel curbs, which has kept the city coronavirus-free but internationally isolated.

• Laos has announced plans to partially re-open to foreign travellers in the new year, throwing a lifeline to the tourism industry after borders were sealed for more than 18 months to keep out Covid.

• Aston Villa’s home match with Burnley was postponed shortly before kick-off on Saturday after a coronavirus outbreak in the Villa camp, leaving only one Premier League fixture on the day’s schedule.

• Paris on Saturday said it was calling off its New Year fireworks as Europe braced for tighter curbs to rein in a highly mutated strain of the coronavirus that is fuelling a resurgence in Covid-19 cases across the world.

• Rangers moved seven points clear at the top of the Scottish Premiership on Saturday as the champions needed a James Tavernier penalty 19 minutes from time to beat coronavirus-hit Dundee United 1-0 at Ibrox.

• With restaurants in Brooklyn closing in rapid succession and lines at Covid-19 test centers swelling by the day, fears are growing in New York of a return to the nightmare of 2020, when the city was the global epicenter of the pandemic.

• Kevin Durant has become the eighth Brooklyn Nets player to enter the NBA’s Covid-19 protocols, the team said on Saturday, as the league battles a surge in cases.