Daily roundupTuesday's key coronavirus developments from Luxembourg and abroad

Starting with Luxembourg

• The latest Covid-19 figures by the Ministry of Health show that 52 cases were discovered from 6,368 tests over the last 24 hours.

• The law on study grants has been adapted to better suit the needs of students following the coronavirus pandemic. If a bachelor student is forced to extend their studies and has already made use of their two “bonus semesters”, they can now apply for a third bonus semester.

• Taxing businesses who profited off the corona crisis would be “economic suicide”, underlined Dan Kersch, the Deputy Prime Minister, in an interview with RTL on Tuesday morning.

And abroad

• Authorities in Wuhan on Tuesday said they would test its entire population for Covid-19 after the central Chinese city where the coronavirus emerged reported its first local infections in more than a year.

• Australian airline Qantas announced Tuesday it will furlough 2,500 workers as coronavirus outbreaks and regional lockdowns pummel demand for flights.

• The United States has now donated more than 100 million doses of Covid-19 vaccine to other countries, the White House said Tuesday.

• France’s pharmaceutical giant Sanofi, which has lagged behind rivals in developing new generation mRNA Covid-19 vaccines, on Tuesday said it has purchased a US firm specialising in the technology.

• Half of the population of the European Union has been fully vaccinated against Covid-19, according to an AFP tally Tuesday, putting it ahead of the United States in the inoculation drive. Nearly 224 million people across the 27 member states have been covered, with Spain leading the pack of larger countries with 58.3% of its population vaccinated, followed by Italy (54.4%), France (52.9%) and Germany (52.2%). In the US that figure stands at 49.7%.

• Iran announced more than 39,000 new Covid cases on Tuesday, the highest in a single day in the Middle East country worst hit by the pandemic.

• Bangladesh extended its strict lockdown on Tuesday and announced plans to vaccinate at least 10 million people in a week. Health ministry spokesman Maidul Islam Prodhan said there was enough stock to inoculate 12 million people following the arrival of vaccines from China and the US under the Covax initiative.

• Authorities in a Colombian town have run out of patience with people refusing coronavirus vaccines, ordering them on Monday to stay at home or face a fine, or even prison. “We have to take a strong stance as leaders... Everyone has to be vaccinated, if not, they cannot circulate in the municipality of Sucre,” the town’s mayor Elvira Julia Mercado said on Blu Radio.