Evening roundupWednesday's key coronavirus developments in Luxembourg and abroad

Starting with Luxembourg:

• The latest figures from the Ministry of Health show that 400 new cases of coronavirus were discovered yesterday, while three more people have died.

• [block type="summary”]Over the past week, police have conducted 310 checks to ensure compliance with the curfew and Covid-19 restrictions.

  • According to information obtained by RTL, flights between the UK and Luxembourg are set to take off again as of 00.01 on 24 December.
  • The president of Caritas is concerned that a strict lockdown will worsen the situation of children who are already in great difficulty at school.
  • At least 640 new cases of coronavirus were reported in Luxembourg schools in the week of 14-20 December, according to the Ministry of Education on Wednesday afternoon.

  And around the world:

  • France and Britainwill reopen cross-border travel Wednesday after a snap 48-hour ban to curb the spread of a new coronavirus variant threatened UK supply chains.

  • President Donald Trump rejected a massive Covid economic relief package passed by Congress, branding it “a disgrace” in an act of political brinkmanship less than a month before he must leave office and when millions of Americans are suffering fallout from the pandemic.
  • Face masksreduce the risk of spreading large Covid-linked droplets when speaking or coughing by up to 99.9 percent, according to a lab experiment with mechanical mannequins and human subjects, researchers said Wednesday.
  • The World Health Organization’s international mission to China to investigate the origins of Covid-19 will explore all avenues and is not looking to find “guilty” parties, a team member told AFP.
  • The UShas purchased an additional 100 million doses of the Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine against Covid-19, with the shots set to be delivered by July, the Pentagon announced Wednesday.
  • India’s Karnataka state, home to the nation’s vibrant technology hub, on Wednesday imposed a night curfew in a bid to stave off the new fast-spreading coronavirus strain sweeping Britain.
  • Christmas and Thailand’s love of elephants combined Wednesday when four of the giant creatures dressed as Santa turned up at a school just outside Bangkok, complete with huge coronavirus masks.
  • Sydney on Wednesday eased lockdown restrictions for Christmas after Australia’s largest city reported a second day of new coronavirus cases in the single digits.