Evening roundupTuesday's key coronavirus developments in Luxembourg and abroad

Starting with Luxembourg

• The latest figures from the Ministry of Health show that 163 new cases of coronavirus were discovered yesterday from 9,138 tests, with six new deaths.

• On Tuesday afternoon Prime Minister Xavier Bettel and Minister of Health Paulette Lenert once again held a briefing to advise on an update to Covid measures. Shops and services such as hairdressers, beauty salons and gyms will be allowed to reopen from Monday 11 January. You can read our ticker translations of the presser here.

• Experts have assessed Luxembourg’s Covid situation at the end of 2020 as “fragile”. The incidence of infections remains high – too high – and thus the note calls for a target of fewer than 150 new infections per day.

• This week, classes resumed in a digital format for the Grand Duchy’s students. RTL spoke to digital education expert Professor Bob Reuter and education leaders on the challenges of remote learning.

• Between 26 December and 3 January, the police conducted around 400 routine checks to monitor the new Covid measures. 215 people were fined.

• The pandemic is challenging for the people visiting “Stëmm vun der Strooss” (“Voice of the Street”), a non-profit organisation looking to help underprivileged people reintegrate into society and providing hot meals.

And around the world

• UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson on Monday announced a six-week lockdown for England’s 56 million people, including the closure of schools, after a surge in coronavirus cases brought warnings that hospitals could soon face collapse. On Tuesday the country launched an extra £4.6-billion package for virus-battered businesses.

• Meanwhile, Germany prolonged and toughened up its partial lockdown with strict limits on social contacts, as Europe’s top economy struggles to curb stubbornly high coronavirus infections.

• Italy on Tuesday postponed the return of high schools as part of new coronavirus restrictions, as a charity warned thousands of students were dropping out after months of distance learning.

• The EU’s European Medicines Agency held off authorising Moderna’s coronavirus jab on Monday despite bringing forward a special meeting, as criticism mounts of the bloc’s slow vaccine roll-out.

• Under mounting pressure to speed up coronavirus vaccinations, Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison on Tuesday said he would not take “unnecessary risks” and emulate Britain’s emergency drug approval. Australia’s pharmaceutical authority is not expected to rule on candidate drugs for around another month, and is aiming to administer the first doses by the end of March.

• With 192,000 reported cases and almost 1,500 deaths, Lebanon is not among the world’s worst hit countries. But its infrastructure is crumbling, and a small surge in infections is enough to take its health sector to breaking point. The health ministry has in recent weeks urged private hospitals to make more room for Covid-19 patients, but the pandemic is spreading too fast.

• An American pharmacist who allegedly destroyed hundreds of coronavirus vaccine doses last month was an “admitted conspiracy theorist” and believed in a baseless rumor about their safety, authorities have said.

• German firm BioNTech warned Tuesday there is no data backing the “safety and efficacy” of delaying the second shot of its Covid-19 vaccine beyond three weeks, AFP reports, as some countries push back the jab to give more people their first dose.

• Belgium will receive only half of the doses it has ordered of the Pfizer/BioNTech vasccine for January, reports Reuters, due to a logistical problem in December. Belgian Health Ministry spokesman Yves Van Laethem said the issue prevented the scheduled delivery of vaccines as per the Belgian vaccination strategy, without providing any further details.

• The Premier League confirmed on Tuesday that 40 players and staff have tested positive for coronavirus in the last two rounds of testing over the past week, but insisted the season will continue as planned.