Daily roundupTuesday's key coronavirus developments from Luxembourg and abroad

Starting with Luxembourg

• The latest figures from Luxembourg show that 104 new cases of coronavirus were discovered over the last 24 hours.

• Prime Minster Xavier Bettel held his annual State of the Nation speech this afternoon. While the live stream is over, our English ticker translations remain here.

• Around 4,000 booster jabs were administered in retirement and care homes over the last three weeks. According to reports, this means 80% of care home residents have now received their third jab as the campaign comes to an end. The next stage of booster jabs will be rolled out to people living in assisted housing at the end of October.

• The pandemic has reignited interest in products with the Made-in-Luxembourg label.

And abroad

• South African biotech consortium is working on a messenger RNA jab based on the Moderna formula. The goal is an mRNA vaccine that suits poorer countries in hot climates.

• Packed bars, few masks and almost no restrictions -- in Serbia it seems the pandemic is over. But it’s a cruel illusion, as the Balkan country currently tops the global charts for infection rates.

• British government delays locking down society when Covid-19 hit last year were “one of the most important public health failures” in the country’s history, a parliamentary report said Tuesday.

• Spain celebrated its national holiday on Tuesday, with the return of military parades in Madrid, marking one more step towards normality at a time when the Covid-19 figures are at the most low. On Monday, the country recorded 46 cases of Covid-19 per 100,000 inhabitants in 14 days: an incidence at the lowest since July 2020.

• Lufthansa said Monday it had paid back in advance 1.5 billion euros of state aid obtained last year at the height of the Covid-19 pandemic, which decimated air travel.

• Germany’s CureVac said Tuesday it is no longer seeking European regulatory approval for its coronavirus vaccine, and will focus instead on a more promising second-generation jab. The decision comes after final trial results in July confirmed that CureVac’s first vaccine had an efficacy rate of just 48 percent, well below that of faster rivals. CureVac blamed the disappointing outcome on the many coronavirus strains circulating by then and on the varying immune responses across age groups.