Evening roundupThursday's key coronavirus developments in Luxembourg and abroad

Starting with Luxembourg:

• [block type="summary”]The latest figures from the Ministry of Health show that 434 new cases of coronavirus were discovered yesterday, while seven more people have died.

  • Prime Minister Xavier Bettel announced he would voluntarily self-isolate following French president Emmanuel Macron’s positive test result. The two statesmen attended last week’s EU summit in Brussels.

  And around the world:

  • [block type="summary”]French President Emmanuel Macron has tested positive for Covid-19, the presidency said on Thursday, adding he would now self-isolate for the next week.

    • Despite a sharper tone from authorities and new restrictions, Sweden, which has famously relied on non-coercive measures, is struggling to contain a strong second wave of Covid-19 it thought it could avoid.
    • Health officials were rushing Thursday to trace the source of a growing cluster of Covid-19 cases in Australia’s largest city of Sydney, with thousands of residents urged to stay home.
    • Tokyo’s hospitals are struggling to provide routine care because of a sharp spike in coronavirus cases, officials warned Thursday as new infections in the Japanese capital hit another record high.
    • A Vietnamese pharmaceutical company began testing a coronavirus vaccine on volunteers in Hanoi on Thursday, as developing countries jostle with richer nations to access affordable inoculations.
    • Twitter said on Wednesday that it would crack down on false posts about Covid-19 vaccines beginning next week, following in the footsteps of Facebook and YouTube.
    • A major snowstorm hit the US east coast during Thursday’s early hours, creating extra challenges in the midst of a coronavirus pandemic and a mass vaccination rollout taking place across the region.