In more positive local news, Luxembourg has ranked in the top quarter for response to the crisis. Israel tops the list of countries worldwide, due to their familiarity with crisis levels and experience with closing borders due to exceptional circumstances. Germany ranks second, particularly for their quick response to the pandemic and rapid mobilisation of support.
According to information obtained by RTL, the implementation of the phased exit plan could already be started as early as next week with the re-opening of individual construction sites. First details of Luxembourg's phased exit plan will be made public on Wednesday, which is when the state council will meet and greenlight the gradual lifting of the current lockdown measures.
New York state recorded 778 coronavirus deaths in the last 24 hours, up from 671 the day before, but new hospital admissions and infections were down, Governor Andrew Cuomo said Tuesday.
US President Donald Trump startled White House reporters on Monday by airing a video at his daily coronavirus briefing that sounded like a campaign re-election advert. Despite a US death toll of 23,200,Trump insisted his administration had superbly mitigated the damage, at one point even claiming that his actions saved "tens of thousands, maybe hundreds of thousands of lives."
Australia and New Zealand brushed aside calls for an easing of tough restrictions on travel and public gatherings despite their success in curbing the spread of COVID-19.
Spain reported Tuesday 567 deaths from the new coronavirus, a slight increase after a one day decline, bringing the total number of fatalities to 18,056 --- officially the third highest in the world behind the United States and Italy.
Sweden reported another that more than 1,000 people had now had died from the novel coronavirus, while the number of confirmed cases passed 11,000.
China has approved clinical trials for two more experimental vaccines to combat the novel coronavirus, officials said Tuesday, as the world's scientists race to beat the pandemic. The vaccines use inactivated coronavirus pathogens, and the approvals pave the way for early-stage human trials, Wu Yuanbin, an official from China's Ministry of Science and Technology told a regular press briefing.
