Daily roundupWednesday's key coronavirus developments from Luxembourg and abroad

Starting with Luxembourg

• A record 1053 new cases of coronavirus were discovered in Luxembourg over the last 24 hours - the highest daily tally since 889 were registered on 17 November 2020.

• In a letter sent out this week to the Chamber of Deputies, the Ministry of State requests a consultative debate on a sectorial or universal vaccine mandate in early January.

• Luxembourg has now ordered 30,000 doses of the new Novavax product.

• https://today.rtl.lu/news/luxembourg/a/1839116.htmlTen chronically ill children in Luxembourg have received their first dose of the vaccine.

• Jean-Paul Bertemes, editor-in-chief at Science.lu, summed up the current situation in the fight against the pandemic in the latest RTL Radio interview.

• Luxembourg’s Student Union Association expressed concerns over restrictions and how they apply to students studying abroad.

• Find an updated overview of cancelled events due to Covid restrictions here.

And abroad

• The world hit a record number of Covid infections in a week, an AFP tally revealed Wednesday, as the WHO warned that Omicron poses a “very high” risk and could yet overwhelm healthcare systems.

• Rapid Covid home tests are more likely to give a false negative with the heavily-mutated Omicron variant compared to earlier strains, the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) said Tuesday.

• Chinese officials admitted Wednesday they have faced challenges getting enough supplies to residents in locked-down Xi’an, after the city’s inhabitants took to social media to complain they didn’t have enough food and call for help.

• Armed riot police in southern China have paraded four alleged violators of Covid rules through the streets, state media reported Wednesday, leading to criticism of the government’s heavy-handed approach.

• A Belgian court on Tuesday suspended the closure of cultural venues, including theatres, a measure announced last week to stem the spread of the Omicron Covid-19 variant.

• Novak Djokovic has pulled out of this week’s ATP Cup in Sydney, organisers said on Wednesday, heightening doubts over whether he will defend his Australian Open title and increasing speculation over his vaccine status.