Evening roundupWednesday's key coronavirus developments in Luxembourg and abroad

Starting with Luxembourg

• The latest figures from the Ministry of Health show that 281 new cases of coronavirus were discovered yesterday from 12,244 tests, with three new deaths.

• The new Covid measures, which come into force on Monday, are awaiting parliamentary scrutiny - yet again under an accelerated timetable. The Council of State will advise on Thursday.

• The reactions from the sectors of politics, culture, Horesca, and commerce to the new measures vary between satisfaction and outright anger.

• Meanwhile, the situation in Luxembourg’s hospitals has calmed down slightly. 46% of hospitalisations are currently due to Covid-19.

• On Wednesday morning the vaccination campaign began in retirement and care homes.

• RTL’s Annick Goerens interviewed Dr Thomas Dentzer, one of Luxembourg’s leading public health experts, who said rapid antigen tests were not ready to be rolled out on a larger scale.

• Infectious disease expert Dr Gérard Schockmel held a webinar organised by the Robert Schuman Hospitals on the topic of the vaccine.

• With one of the most efficient large-scale testing capacities, could Luxembourg uncover answers to some of the questions surrounding the vaccine?

And around the world

• Tobias Hans (CDU), minister president of Saarland, criticised Luxembourg for easing restrictions, saying it was “irresponsible”.

• The novel coronavirus has killed at least 1,869,674 people since the outbreak emerged in China, according to a tally from official sources compiled by AFP at 11:00 GMT on Wednesday.

• The EU’s medicines watchdog approved a coronavirus jab by US firm Moderna on Wednesday, giving a shot in the arm for Europe’s slow-moving vaccine roll-out.

• An expert mission to China to find the origins of the coronavirus pandemic stumbled before it even began, with the head of the World Health Organization complaining that Beijing was blocking the team from entering the country. Chinese officials said it was “not just a visa issue”.

• Travel has been restricted to a northern Chinese city of 11 million people and schools closed as authorities Wednesday moved to snuff out a cluster of Covid-19 after dozens were infected.

• British Prime Minister Boris Johnson on Wednesday said the coronavirus marathon had turned into a hopeful sprint to vaccinate millions in the weeks ahead but justified another lockdown to relieve crisis-hit hospitals.

• The spread of more infectious coronavirus strains in Britain and South Africa, with isolated cases of the UK variant appearing in dozens of countries, has made inoculating a maximum number of people as quickly as possible more urgent than ever, experts say.