Daily roundupWednesday's key coronavirus developments from Luxembourg and abroad

Starting with Luxembourg

• The latest figures from the Ministry of Health show that 203 new cases of coronavirus were discovered yesterday from 10,577 tests. There was 1 new death.

• According to STATEC, 11% of deaths in 2020 were caused by Covid-19.

• RTL conducted a fact check regarding criticisms of Luxembourg’s vaccination strategy, which has been trailing its European neighbours.

• Police reported 1,900 offences which were recorded in the capital from November to December 2020, 275 of which took place during the curfew.

• A primary school in Schifflange has quarantined all its Cycle 2 classes after several cases of the virus were detected.

And abroad

• World Health Organization inspectors on Wednesday visited a laboratory in China’s Wuhan city at the heart of a controversial theory that it could have been the source of the coronavirus.

• Initial data from Israel’s coronavirus vaccination campaign shows the Pfizer/BioNTech jab protects against serious illness, but it is not yet clear whether it slows transmissions or spells progress toward achieving herd immunity, experts say.

• Scotland will require all arrivals from outside the UK to undergo “managed quarantine”, First Minister Nicola Sturgeon said Tuesday, as she criticised the British government’s more limited self-isolation travel rules.

• Australia’s conservative prime minister was forced to bring a vocal party lawmaker to task on Wednesday for spreading pandemic disinformation, after a string of comments that threatened to undermine public safety.

• Cancer patients in Gaza have been denied essential medical care as restrictions imposed during the pandemic have made travelling for treatment to hospitals in the West Bank impossible.

• Portuguese funeral workers have said they are nearing breaking point over the country’s explosion in Covid deaths during a virulent third wave in the last few weeks.

• Preparations for the Australian Open were thrown into chaos Wednesday when up to 600 players and officials were told to isolate and get tested after a worker at a hotel they are staying in became infected with Covid-19.

• A Johannesburg hotel has employed three robots to help reduce the risk of infection by Covid-19 in South Africa, which has recorded more than 1.45 million cases and nearly 45,000 deaths.

• [block type="summary”]The Eurovision Song Contest in the Dutch city of Rotterdam cannot go ahead as normal this year because of coronavirus and will likely have no live audience, organisers said Wednesday.