Daily roundupThursday's key coronavirus developments from Luxembourg and abroad

Starting with Luxembourg

• The latest figures from Luxembourg show that 1,932 new cases of Coronavirus were discovered over the last 24 hours.

• Minister of Health Paulette Lenert will hold a press conference Friday at 3pm providing updates on the current sanitary situation.

• The Ministry of Health has confirmed that pregnant women are eligible for the booster jab after the first trimester.

• The Luxembourg Athletics Foundation has cancelled five indoor meetings in total this January, as Covid cases soar in the Grand Duchy.

• The vaccine walk-in centre at the capital’s central train station replaces its counterpart in the city centre, which closed on 31 December.

• In a statement published on Thursday, Luxembourg’s Association of Doctors and Dentists (AMMD) said the health sector is struggling under the weight of the pandemic, which has led them to support mandatory vaccination.

• The Army is opening new test centres across Luxembourg to encourage vaccination.

• The State council will debate the potential introduction of a vaccine mandate this Friday, Luxembourg’s Prime Minister Xavier Bettel said on Wednesday.

• During the week from 27 December to 2 January, people aged 75 and older were especially prone to contracting Covid-19.

And Abroad

• Consumer prices in Germany rose in December at their fastest pace since June 1992, official data showed on Thursday, pushed up by rising energy costs and supply bottlenecks.

• A series of coronavirus outbreaks have cropped up on cruise ships in North and South America, Europe and Asia in recent days despite strict health measures, giving new headaches to the pandemic-hit sector.

• Premier League champions City said 21 players and staff were now isolating for Covid-related reasons as the virus wreaked further havoc on English football.

• The US, Britain, France and Australia have all announced record numbers of daily Covid-19 cases as the WHO warned Tuesday that Omicron’s dizzying spread increased the risk of newer, more dangerous variants emerging.

• Asian and European stocks mostly sank Thursday after the US Federal Reserve signalled it was ready to hike interest rates sooner than expected to combat spiking inflation.

• Arsenal star Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang has tested positive for Covid-19 Gabon coach Patrice Neveu told AFP on Thursday just days ahead of their opening Africa Cup of Nations match.

• France’s lower house of parliament on Thursday passed in a first reading a bill further tightening Covid measures, after three days of tense debates fuelled by President Emmanuel Macron’s warning that he wanted to “piss off” the unvaccinated.

• Australia vowed to deport tennis world number one Novak Djokovic on Thursday after he failed to meet stringent pandemic entry requirements, as Omicron’s relentless march forced organisers to cancel the Grammys and Sundance Film Festival.

• Election rallies were cancelled in India‘s heartland Thursday as authorities fret over a sudden Covid surge, driven by the Omicron variant, which has seen confirmed infections nearly triple in two days.

• Rafael Nadal said that he had been “very sick” with Covid as he returned with a patchy win over qualifier Ricardas Berankis at the Melbourne Summer Set tournament on Thursday.

• Two years ago, a previously unknown virus plunged humanity into an unprecedented global crisis that has transformed our daily lives -- and significantly expanded scientific knowledge.

• From a litany of lockdowns to mandatory mask-wearing and Covid passes to access entertainment and sporting venues, the pandemic has led to sweeping restrictions on civil liberties in some of the world‘s oldest democracies.

• Chinese authorities said Thursday they have punished officials after footage went viral of an eight-month pregnant woman miscarrying in the locked-down city of Xi’an when a hospital refused her entry without a Covid test.

• A video produced by a group claiming to represent Canadian doctors and health care professionals falsely alleges that the Pfizer-BioNTech Covid-19 vaccine is dangerous. Read our Fact Check here.

• As South Korea battled record Covid-19 cases, social media posts shared a purported government health agency message falsely saying that people with Covid-19 who had not received a booster shot would be classed as “unvaccinated infections”. Read our Fact Check here.

• Social media posts falsely claim to show a public health poster from the 1918 Spanish Flu pandemic that echoes Covid-19 safety guidelines. Read our Fact Check here.

• Japan‘s Foreign Minister Yoshimasa Hayashi urged his US counterpart Thursday to consider restricting American troop movement in the country after a surge in Covid cases on bases and surrounding communities.

• The Africa Cup of Nations, kicking off Sunday in Cameroon after a delay over Covid concerns, is also posing major security, political and organisational challenges for the host nation.

• Macau has announced a two-week ban on any inbound passenger flights from outside of China after three coronavirus cases were found in passengers arriving from overseas.