Vaccine connection in 74-year old’s death “not excluded”

An investigation has been launched into the death in Luxembourg on 10 April of a 74-year-old woman who had received the AstraZeneca covid vaccine two weeks earlier. The health ministry has confirmed her death was due to a “cerebral haemorrhage associated with thrombocytopenia and disseminated intravascular coagulation.” The attending physician has said a connection to the vaccine “could not be excluded,” Delano reported.

Bettel says no change in vaccine strategy

Meanwhile, prime minister Xavier Bettel told RTL on Wednesday that the government was currently not planning to change its vaccination strategy and would continue administering all four vaccines currently authorised by the European Medicines Agency. The EMA has said that it sees no evidence to restrict the use of the AstraZeneca vaccine, and is currently reviewing the Johnson & Johnson vaccine, but said on Wednesday it still believes the benefits of that particular vaccine outweigh the risks of side effects. Johnson & Johnson itself had halted the rollout to Europe on Tuesday. “If the EMA would say don’t use them, then we would be the first to no longer use them,” Bettel said. A cabinet meeting on Friday will review the situation.

Denmark halts AstraZeneca shots

The Danish health authority on Wednesday announced that its vaccination campaign “will go ahead without the AstraZeneca vaccine.” The authority’s director Søren Brostrøm said the decision “is contextual” and that the majority of the Danish population at risk “has been vaccinated and the epidemic is under control.” Denmark is the first European country to completely cease the use of a particular covid vaccine. The BBC and France24 have details.

Luxembourg latest covid figures

272 of 9,510 covid tests carried out on Tuesday were positive, the health ministry said on Wednesday. The reproduction rate reached 1.23, compared to 0.95 the previous day. A further seven people died after testing positive for the virus, bringing the pandemic death toll to 784. 122 people remain hospitalised, of whom 33 are in intensive care. Luxembourg has administered a total of 141,352 vaccine doses so far. Delano has daily updates.

Bernie Madoff dies

Bernie Madoff, who masterminded one of the biggest investment frauds in history, has died in prison in North Carolina at the age of 82. Madoff was serving a 150-year sentence for running a Ponzi scheme that defrauded as many as 37,000 people in 136 countries to the tune of over $17 billion. The fraudulent scheme also reached Luxembourg. As Delano reported in 2019, the $1.4bn Luxalpha fund set up by UBS in 2004 was reportedly invested up to 90% in Madoff’s Ponzi scheme. Investors who lost their savings in the fund have accused the regulator, CSSF, of incompetence for not ensuring they received compensation for the fraud. The Guardian, CNBC and the FT all have details.

Ryanair to appeal ECJ ruling on Nordic competition

Irish budget carrier Ryanair has said it will appeal a decision by the European Court of Justice that Danish, Swedish and Finnish government support for national airlines SAS and Finnair was permitted under EU state aid rules. All three countries had provided financial aid to the airlines to compensate for lost business during the covid pandemic, which the European Commission allowed under exceptional occurrences provisions. But on Wednesday Ryanair said the ECJ rulings “set the process of liberalisation in air transport back by 30 years” by allowing governments “to give their national flag carriers a leg up over more efficient competitors, based purely on nationality”. RTE and The Irish Times have more.

Cameron ready to answer Greensill probe

A spokesman for former UK prime minister David Cameron has said he would “respond positively” to requests to give evidence to a Commons treasury committee probe into lobbying on behalf of insolvent financial services company Greensill Capital, the BBC reports. The committee enquiry is in addition to an independent legal review commissioned by the government which should report by the end of June. The government had previously rejected opposition calls for a more thorough probe, including public hearings by a cross-party panel of MPs. The FT says that chancellor Rishi Sunak will also give evidence.

CEOs come out against voting restrictions

More than 100 companies including Apple, Amazon, Ford and Starbucks have signed a letter, published as an advertisement in Wednesday’s New York Times, opposing voter restriction legislation. Former American Express CEO Ken Chenault, who initiated the letter with Merck & Co CEO Ken Frazier, told Reuters that it was “important for companies to assert some of the core principles of our democracy and the most fundamental is the right to vote.” A voting rights bill has already passed in Georgia and is being considered in other states including Texas and Arizona.

Ever Given blocked again

Shoei Kisen Kaisha, the Japanese owner of the Ever Given, the ship that ran aground and blocked the Suez Canal in late March, is being asked to pay $900m in compensation to the Suez Canal Authority. Egyptian authorities have said they will impound the ship, currently anchored in the Great Bitter Lake, the Suez Canal's midway point, unless the payment is made. The compensation figure includes $300m for a salvage bonus and $300m for loss of reputation, according to the BBC.

Champions League semi-finalists set

Manchester City and Real Madrid on Wednesday booked their places in this season’s Champions League semi-finals by winning ties against Borussia Dortmund and Liverpool respectively. City now face Paris Saint-Germain and Madrid play Chelsea in the semi-finals. The BBC and The Guardian have reports.

Today’s breakfast briefing was written by Duncan Roberts