Evening roundupWednesday's key coronavirus developments in Luxembourg and abroad

Starting with Luxembourg

• The latest figures from the Ministry of Health show that 92 new cases of coronavirus were discovered yesterday, of which 79 were residents. The death toll remains at 118.

• The Norwegian agency Hurtigruten announced this week that they were cancelling yet another planned trip at the beginning of the week, as did the German cruise line AIDA. The impact of said cancellations will also be noticeable in Luxembourg.

• A first wave of bankruptcies is expected in Autumn, says Romain Schmit, secretary general of the artisan federation.

• When asked about the possible extension of mandatory mask wearing in public, around 61% of RTL readers have been in favour of it, 1,608 in people in total. 925 people considered the measure too extreme, while 79 people refrained from taking a position on the matter.

• There is €3 million in aid for non-profit organisations in the tourism sector. See what the conditions are.

• And last but not least, sports enthusiast and Luxembourg Minister for Foreign Affairs, Jean Asselborn, 71, has embarked on a solo bike tour of France so as not to be “embedded” in fear of the virus.

Around the world

• The coronavirus pandemic has killed more than 700,000 people worldwide since it first emerged in China in December.

• The World Health Organization said Wednesday it was “unrealistic” to expect large crowds at sports events this year in countries suffering from community-level transmission of the new coronavirus. Emergencies director Michael Ryan said it could be “disastrous” in such circumstances to allow the return of sports matches with tens of thousands of people attending.

• Clinical trials on humans have begun in China for a potential coronavirus vaccine developed by German pharmaceutical group BioNTech with Chinese company Fosun Pharma, the companies said Wednesday.

• Scotland will reimpose lockdown restrictions in and around the city of Aberdeen after recording dozens of new coronavirus cases there this week, First Minister Nicola Sturgeon said on Wednesday.

• Frédérique Jacobs, the Belgium’s leading spokesperson in the fight against the virus, analysed the data and emphasised that Belgium was not yet hit with a second wave.

• France on Wednesday added 80 million euros to a rescue package for its wine-growing sector.

• Italy’s national civil aviation authority ENAC threatened on Wednesday to suspend Ryanair’s permit to fly in the country over alleged non-compliance with coronavirus safety rules.

• Nearly a third of Afghanistan’s population -- or 10 million people -- has been infected with the coronavirus, according to health ministry estimates published Wednesday.

• France’s Accor, the world’s sixth largest hotel chain, said Tuesday it was slashing 1,000 jobs worldwide in a major cost cutting plan accelerated by the effects of the coronavirus pandemic.

• Some 24,000 health workers in South Africa have contracted the coronavirus, 181 of whom have died, since the pandemic hit the country in March, the health minister announced on Wednesday.