Daily roundupWednesday's key coronavirus developments from Luxembourg and abroad

Starting with Luxembourg

• The latest figures from the Ministry of Health show that 272 new cases of coronavirus were discovered yesterday from 9,510 tests. Seven further deaths were reported.

• A 74-year-old woman has died in Luxembourg two weeks after receiving the AstraZeneca jab. While a causal link has not yet been determined, the case is being handled as a suspicious death, with both the Ministry of Health and public prosecutor’s office investigating.

• Luxembourg has passed a milestone in the fight against Covid-19, as Wednesday saw 100,000 people having received a vaccine against the disease.

• Some 360 peoplehave been fined for breaking one or more of the current coronavirus measures. 270 of these persons were caught violating the curfew.

• Lately, more and more young people needed to be transported abroad due to complicated Covid-19 infections. Both Prime Minister Xavier Bettel and Minister for Home Affairs Taina Bofferding thus visited the centre of the Grand Ducal Fire and Rescue Corps (CGDIS) in Dudelange on Tuesday.

• Travel and hotels reserved only for vaccinated people: Could this model ever be established in the Grand Duchy? “The question does not arise at this stage”, said the Luxembourg government.

• For the second time in a row, Ramadan occurs under strict Covid-19 regulations. Saima Mehović from the Northern Islamic Cultural Centre in Wiltz explained to RTL what this means for practising Muslims.

• How to self-tests work? Now that rapid and self-tests have entered the market, our colleagues from RTL 5minutes provide you with an essential guide on how to employ them correctly.

And around the world

• US health authorities have recommended pausing the Johnson & Johnson Covid-19 shot over blood clot fears, with the company announcing it would delay its European rollout in a setback for global immunisation efforts.

• Hundreds of people have tested positive for coronavirus in India at the site of the world’s biggest religious festival, officials said Wednesday, as huge crowds of mostly maskless Hindu devotees descended on the River Ganges.

• People aged under 60 who have been given a first dose of the Oxford-AstraZeneca coronavirus vaccine in Germany will receive a different jab for their second dose, federal and regional health ministers agreed Tuesday. Meanwhile, Denmark on Tuesday announced it would stop using the AstraZeneca Covid-19 vaccine altogether, becoming the first European country to do so.

• The EU said Wednesday it would get 50 million Pfizer vaccine doses earlier than expected,

• Belgium will allow restaurants, cafes and bars to reopen outdoor eating and drinking areas on May 8, Prime Minister Alexander De Croo told a news conference on Wednesday.

• Ryanair on Wednesday lost further legal challenges to state rescues of rival airlines as an EU court cleared pandemic aid to SAS and Finnair.

• A second section of the Tokyo Olympics torch relay was pulled from public roads over spiking coronavirus cases on Wednesday, fueling fears about whether the postponed Games should go ahead with just 100 days until the opening ceremony.

• US biotech company Moderna announced its Covid vaccine is 90 percent effective against all forms of the disease and 95 percent effective against severe disease, a new study result.

• Thousands of police patrolled the empty streets of the Bangladesh capital Dhaka on Wednesday as the government enforced a strict nationwide lockdown for the city’s 20 million people.