Evening roundupWednesday's key coronavirus developments in Luxembourg and around the world

In Luxembourg

• Luxembourg recorded 66 new cases with 10,101 tests in the last 24 hours. 764 active infections remain.

• Xavier Bettel and Paulette Lenert delivered an update on the current Covid-19 situation. You can find our full summary here, but the PM announced that new measures may be implemented this upcoming Sunday should the situation not improve.

• A map of Luxembourg shows the number of infections per commune. Esch is highest with 329, followed by Luxembourg City (161) and Mersch (36).

• RTL has obtained a letter by Luxembourg’s director of health to GPs issuing a warning that the country could be facing a second wave. The crisis unit has therefore been reactivated.

• In a surprise move, Luxembourg residents travelling to Germany must have a “valid reason” or self-isolate for 14 days, according to the German Robert Koch Institute.

• We had a closer look at Luxembourg’s infection rates – they are similar to Germany and lower than Belgium and France. The large-scale testing strategy is playing a large role in all of this.

• Luxembourg’s opposition parties held a press briefing without the coalition government earlier this Wednesday to voice their frustrations with the government’s lack of communication on the subject of covid-19.

• Sad news for Luxembourg’s international community today as the International Bazar 2020 was officially cancelled.

• A woman was fined €150 for driving to a friend during the lockdown in April.

International

• European officials warned Wednesday that a feared second wave of coronavirus infections could coincide with the continent’s winter flu season, and urged member states to prepare.

• US biotech firm Moderna said Tuesday it would enter the final stage of human trials for its COVID-19 vaccine on July 27, to test how well it protects people in the real world.

• Iran said on Wednesday that 140 of its health workers had died of coronavirus, with thousands of others infected, as officials urged Iranians to observe health protocols.

• The Guardian newspaper said on Wednesday it plans to axe 180 jobs, the latest British publisher to announce cuts as the coronavirus crisis drives readers online and slashes advertising revenues. The move follows an announcement last week by Reach, which publishes national newspapers the Daily Mirror and Daily Express, and a string of local titles, to cut about 550 jobs.

• The Maldives reopened its tourist resorts Wednesday and welcomed its first international flight in more than three months even as the Indian Ocean holiday hotspot records a steady rise in coronavirus infections.

• Airlines are pleading for help from their clients as they face paying customers back for flights cancelled that could starve them of cash, the industry said Wednesday.

• Canada and the United States are preparing to extend the closure of their border to non-essential travel until August 21, a source familiar with the talks said Tuesday. The United States recorded 63,262 new infections in the last 24 hours.

• Walmart will require shoppers to wear face masks starting next week, the retail giant announced Wednesday, joining an increasing number of businesses in mandating the protection amid the latest spike in US coronavirus cases.

• From factory floors in India to the warehouses of Cambodia, garment workers for global brands say the collapse in demand triggered by the coronavirus is being used as a cover to break their unions.