Daily roundupThursday's key coronavirus developments from Luxembourg and abroad

Starting with Luxembourg

• The latest figures from Luxembourg show that 3,029 new cases of coronavirus were discovered over the last 24 hours.

• The state treasury published its first report on the Covid loans scheme, which was put in place to support businesses through the pandemic.

• The “Patientevertriedung” ASBL announced on Thursday they would collate reports of vaccine side effects and pass the data on to the Ministry of Health, using a new form on their site.

• On Thursday afternoon, the Ministry of Agriculture reported that newly-appointed minister Claude Haagen had tested positive for coronavirus.

• Corona-walking protests, as they are known in Germany, are becoming more frequent in Luxembourg as demonstrators stage protests outside the private residences of politicians.

• More than 15,000 people contracted Covid-19 last week, according to the government’s latest weekly report.

• Luxembourg’s “Collège médical” has reiterated its call for a widespread vaccine mandate in Luxembourg, without age or occupation limits, following the debate in the Chamber of Deputies.

And Abroad

• McDonald’s reported higher profits Thursday on price increases and fewer impacts from Covid-19 restrictions despite higher operating costs.

• Hong Kong on Thursday shortened the mandatory quarantine for international travellers from three weeks to two, even as the city struggles to contain virus outbreaks involving Omicron and Delta variants.

• The United States is shipping nearly 1.7 million doses of Covid-19 vaccine to Uganda, a White House official said Thursday, in the latest wave of jabs donated to stem the global pandemic.

• British airline EasyJet slashed losses by half in the first quarter, despite the emergence of the Omicron coronavirus variant which disrupted the travel industry, the company said Thursday.

• A hospital in Boston refused to perform a heart transplant on a patient who had not been vaccinated for Covid-19, US television media reported Wednesday.

• Online articles falsely claim a young girl was arrested at the Natural History Museum in New York City for refusing to show proof of vaccination. Read our Fact Check here.

• An image of a damaged building has been shared repeatedly in Korean-language social media posts that claim it shows the aftermath of an explosion at “a factory storing Covid-19 vaccines” in Japan. Read our Fact Check here.

• US biotech company Moderna announced on Wednesday that it has begun clinical trials of a booster dose of vaccine designed specifically to combat the Omicron variant of the coronavirus.

• England on Thursday lifted coronavirus restrictions imposed to tackle the Omicron variant, with masks no longer required in enclosed places and vaccine passports shelved.

• At the start of 2020, the National Symphony Orchestra was planning its first international tour with conductor Gianandrea Noseda, and an epic Beethoven cycle to mark the 250th anniversary of the legendary composer’s birth.

• Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell on Wednesday gave a clear signal the central bank is ready to raise US interest rates in March for the first time since cutting them to zero when Covid-19 broke out.