Daily roundupWednesday's key coronavirus developments from Luxembourg and abroad

Starting with Luxembourg

• The latest figures from Luxembourg show that 600 new cases were discovered over the last 24 hours, along with one new death.

• Prime Minister Xavier Bettel and Minister of Health Paulette Lenert held a crucial press briefing on Wednesday morning at 9.45am. The stream is over but the ticker remains.

• Prime Minister Xavier Bettel and Minister of Health Paulette Lenert announced new precautionary measures on Wednesday morning in light of concerning Omicron developments.

• The Minister of Defence, François Bausch, spoke to RTL regarding plans for new Covid test centres.

• Parliament is likely to vote on the amended law by the end of the week.

• President of the Luxembourg Union of Travel Agencies, Fernand Heinisch, told RTL he expected the pandemic’s impact on the travel industry to last until 2023, while agencies will have to adapt to the new climate.

• Opposition parties have expressed frustration with the government’s decision to announce new measures just days after the Chamber of Deputies voted on the latest Covid-19 law.

• Officially, five cases of Omicron have been detected in Luxembourg, but Minister of Health Paulette Lenert has announced a “rapid increase”.

• Among the 2,727 infections detected last week, the incidence rate was 723.08 per 100,000 for the non-vaccinated population and 288.43 per 100,000 for those fully vaccinated.

• The hospitality sector questions the usefulness of the curfew in bars and restaurants announced by Prime Minister Xavier Bettel on Wednesday morning.

And abroad

• The World Health Organization on Tuesday authorised its 10th Covid-19 vaccine -- Nuvaxovid from US firm Novavax.

• European and US stock markets rose Wednesday in low-volume, pre-holiday trade as reassuring US data helped investors put aside Omicron coronavirus concerns, dealers said.

• A Swedish company implanting microchips under the skin has is promoting its devices for use as a Covid-19 health pass in a country with thousands of early adopters.

• Germany‘s leaders on Tuesday limited private New Year’s parties to 10 people and banned spectators from football games to stem Omicron’s spread, stopping short of imposing new coronavirus curbs before Christmas.

• Aston Villa manager Steven Gerrard said fear of Covid-19 is so heightened that one of his players was reluctant to get out of his car.

• Japan on Wednesday urged the US military to adhere to coronavirus testing and quarantine rules as a cluster linked to an American base grew to more than 200 cases.

• Social media posts falsely claim 400 children were treated in one week for adverse reactions to Covid-19 shots at a Calgary hospital. Read our Fact Check here.

• American consumers were even more confident about the economy in December and less concerned about inflation, despite the rise of the Omicron variant of Covid-19, according to a survey released Wednesday.

• Over 13 million people were ordered to stay home in the Chinese city of Xi’an, which imposed a strict lockdown on Wednesday and dramatically tightened travel controls to fight a growing Covid-19 outbreak.

• Heavily dependent on car production, the Czech and Slovakeconomies are set to take a blow this year as the Covid-19 pandemic has crimped imports of chips from Asia.

• The number of daily Covid-19 cases in France is set to exceed 100,000 by the end of December due to the faster-spreading Omicron variant, Health Minister Olivier Veran said on Wednesday.

• Tokyo Olympics organisers revised the estimated cost of the Covid-postponed Games downwards on Wednesday, but the figure was still around double the budget proposed in the city’s original 2013 bid.

• Over the last 12 months, prices for materials such as wood, steel and iron have shot up, with no signs of stopping.

• National Hockey League players will not compete in February’s Beijing Winter Olympics in the wake of 50 NHL games being postponed over Covid-19, according to reports Tuesday.

• Australian Open chief Craig Tiley said Wednesday he was confident that Rafael Nadal will play in Melbourne despite testing positive for Covid-19, as fresh doubts emerged over Novak Djokovic.

• Bars in Finland will be forced to close at 9pm on Christmas Eve as part of new restrictions designed to fight record Covid infection levels, the prime minister said on Tuesday.

• A new kind of chip shortage has hit Japanese supply chains, with McDonald’s forced to ration fries in the country as Covid-19 and floods in Canada squeeze potato imports.

• Resort and bar owners on a Philippine island popular with surfers and tourists were expecting a bumper Christmas holiday after Covid-19 restrictions finally eased. Then Super Typhoon Rai wiped them out.

• Philadelphia’s Jalen Hurts and Los Angeles Rams star Matthew Stafford sparked their clubs to NFL triumphs on Tuesday in games that were postponed due to Covid-19 outbreaks.