Tougher rules against Covid-19 take effect on Saturday

Tougher restrictions carrying fines of up to €1,000 will take effect on Saturday after Luxembourg’s parliament pushed through new virus-fighting measures in an extraordinary session.

The rules forbidding visits of more than two people from outside the household and closing non-essential businesses like hair salons and tattoo shops were approved after hours of debate by lawmakers on Thursday.

The measures Prime Minister Xavier Bettel proposed on Monday were imposed to limit the spread of the virus causing Covid-19 as Luxembourg exceeded 460 deaths from the disease on Thursday.

Another four deaths and 253 new cases were reported by the Health Ministry on Friday. Of the 167 people hospitalised on Friday, 35 required intensive care, officials said.

The new restrictions are scheduled to stay in force until 10 January, but restaurants and bars are due to remain closed until 15 January.

Bettel’s government promised to return to lawmakers and discuss easing the rules after the New Year holiday if conditions allow, the parliament said in a statement on its web site.

The package was widely supported, including by the largest opposition party, the Christian Democrat CSV, and voted in after a three-hour debate - a rare occurence on Christmas Eve, normally a holiday.

There was a separate vote about the curfew, which will now start at 2100 hrs instead of 2300 hrs, a measure the CSV did not back. The earlier curfew was still voted into law through the three ruling coalition parties. 

Politicians who are not part of Bettel’s governing coalition were skeptical of the new limit since data on hospitalisations, infections and deaths were showing improvement last week.

“I still don't understand the government's policy. Why is it tightening the rules right now, at a time when there is a clear downward trend?,” said Claude Wiseler of the Christian-democratic CSV party.

The temporary restrictions were a “preventive breakwater” needed to give hospitals and medical workers a respite from the stream of sick patients, said Gilles Baum, the parliamentary leader of Bettel’s Democratic Party.

The new conditions include requiring students to stay home an additional week after the current holiday season on 3 January and work on their lessons remotely. Deputies adopted a separate law allowing parents to take leave from their jobs to accommodate home schooling.

Health Minister Paulette Lenert promised lawmakers the government would propose revising legislation that allows data collection to monitor the effects of Covid-19 vaccine. The new law allows the personal data of vaccinated people to be kept for up to 20 years to track potential future side effects. The measure does not allow Luxembourg authorities to communicate personalized vaccine data to foreign authorities.

Luxembourg's vaccine roll-out is off to a slow start compared to the UK and the US, with the first orders arriving on Saturday and the first shots administered beginning on Monday.

Luxembourg is expected to receive an initial shipment of the BioNTech/Pfizer vaccine sufficient to inoculate fewer than 5,000 people.

(Additional reporting by Danielle Schumacher)

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