Daily roundupThursday's key coronavirus developments from Luxembourg and abroad

Starting with Luxembourg

• The latest figures from Luxembourg show that a whopping 432 new cases of Coronavirus were recorded over the last 24 hours. This is the highest figure of new Covid cases since December of 2020.

• People who receive a booster jab for the Johnson&Johnson vaccine will receive a new certificate; however, the old one issued following the first jab will still be valid.

• The mobile vaccination bus, which has been navigating Luxembourg City’s different districts and population groups, was parked outside RTL City on Thursday, prompting RTL Today to hop down during our lunch break to speak to health professionals working on the bus, as well as people queuing to get jabbed.

• The weekly review of the Covid-19 situation in Luxembourg showed that nine out of 10 ICU patients were unvaccinated.

And abroad

• Britain on Thursday became the first country to approve an anti-Covid pill, as it greenlit the use of Merck’s antiviral drug to treat patients suffering from mild to moderate coronavirus, regulators said.

• Social media posts falsely claim Pfizer is profiting from myocarditis caused by its Covid-19 vaccine through a drug it sells that treats inflammation of the heart, which has been reported as a rare side effect of the shots. Read the Fact Check here.

• One of Europe’s poorest countries, Ukraine has been hit by a huge rise in infections with the coronavirus’ more contagious Delta variant.

• The rising number of cases of Covid-19 in Europe is of “grave concern” and the region could see another half a million deaths by early next year, the World Health Organization warned on Thursday

• Germany on Thursday saw its biggest daily rise in Covid-19 cases since the pandemic began, figures from the Robert Koch Institute (RKI) health agency showed.

• Global stock markets mostly rose on Thursday, with US tech stocks hitting a new high a day after the Federal Reserve said it would start “tapering” its pandemic support programme.