Coronavirus Global Updates May 18 ::: Pakistan Cases Drop After Week-Long Lockdown; U.S. Daily Cases Fall to 14-Month Low; Carnage in India Amid Record Number of Deaths

Tue May 18 10:51:59 CAT 2021

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Zimbabwe COVID19 Update

COVID-19 update: As at 17 May 2021, Zimbabwe had 38 572 confirmed cases, including 36 349 recoveries and 1 582 deaths. To date, a total of 591 808 people have been vaccinated against COVID-19. 

Carnage in India Amid Record Number of Deaths: Virus Update
The pandemic is wiping out “ <https://www.bloomberg.com/news/features/2021-05-17/-entire-families-wiped-out-by-covid-19-s-carnage-in-rural-india> entire families” in villages in India, where more people are saying the scale of the crisis is much bigger than official numbers reveal. The country saw a record amount of deaths on Tuesday, though the daily count of new infections fell.

U.S. President Joe Biden plans to send an  <https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2021-05-17/biden-to-send-u-s-authorized-vaccines-abroad-for-first-time> additional 20 million doses of vaccines abroad by the end of June as supply is beginning to outstrip demand. The New York City Marathon, a major tourism draw, will return in November with at least 33,000 runners.

Sanofi and GlaxoSmithKline Plc reported positive results from a mid-stage study, offering optimism their delayed vaccine could be cleared by year-end.

Thailand Considers Release of About 50,000 Prison Inmates 
Thailand, already facing its worst coronavirus outbreak since the start of the pandemic, is considering cutting its prison population by as much as 16% to counter the rapid spread of infections among inmates and workers in overcrowded facilities.

More than 10,000 new Covid-19 cases have been reported in about a dozen densely-packed Thai prisons. These latest clusters have pushed the country’s daily case count to record highs twice in the past week, including on Monday when more than two-thirds of the 9,635 infections were reported in prisons, official data showed.

At about 311,000 inmates, Thai prisons are running 5% above official capacity. More than 80% of those incarcerated face charges for narcotics violations. The Justice Ministry is looking at a special early-release program for about 50,000 inmates, that could include the use of electronic-monitoring systems and adjustment of criteria.

Hanmi Will Produce Experimental Genexine Vaccine 
Hanmi Pharm to produce Genexine’s experimental Covid-19 vaccine GX-19N from its plant in Pyeongtaek, South Korea, according to regulatory filing. The companies aim to obtain emergency use approval in South Korea and Indonesia.

Shares of both Hanmi and Genexine rose Tuesday.

Denmark Plans Reopening Procedures 
Denmark’s lawmakers agreed on the next stage of reopenings as the pandemic remains under control in the Nordic country. All indoor sport activities will be permitted from next week as will all the school activities that hadn’t yet opened already. The government also said it expects to end its recommendation that people work from home by August, when it also will drop face masks requirements.

Australia’s Labor Market Recovery Continues 
Jobs lost from the end of Australia’s wage subsidy  <https://www.bloomberg.com/news/terminal/QTAC5YT0AFBH> are being absorbed by the labor market, Secretary to the Treasury Steven Kennedy said, adding the nation had the fiscal space to respond to another crisis if needed.

When the JobKeeper program concluded March 28, over 1 million Australians were still receiving the subsidy, Kennedy said in a post-budget speech in Sydney Tuesday. Estimates indicate that in the two weeks to April 11, between 16,000 and 40,000 former recipients lost their jobs; meantime the number of ex-JobKeeper workers going to welfare benefits “has not increased substantially,” he said.

Unemployment is currently 5.6%, down almost 2 percentage points from its pandemic peak in July. Treasury forecasts it to drop to 4.75% by June 2023.

India Reports Record Number of Deaths 
India reported a record 4,329 deaths Tuesday even as official data show the daily count of new infections is dipping. However, the country’s overall test positivity rate is about 20%, far higher than the less-than-5% the World Health Organization considers as an indicator that the spread is under control.

The scale of the crisis may be much bigger than official numbers reveal, with entire families sickening and dying in Indian villages where healthcare is absent and cases can go uncounted.

Indonesia Begins Privately Run Vaccine Campaign 
Indonesia  <https://www.bloomberg.com/news/terminal/QTA6ADT0AFB4> has kicked off its privately run vaccination campaign, with companies including Unilever Plc inoculating local employees to help Southeast Asia’s biggest economy reach herd immunity sooner and revive growth.

Around 320 workers at a Unilever Indonesia’s plant outside of Jakarta received their first shot of the vaccine made by China’s Sinopharm Group Co., Ira Noviarti, CEO of the local unit, said in a briefing. An estimated 10 million workers will receive their shots this way, with more than 22,000 companies registered for the program, according to Rosan Roeslani, chairman of the Indonesian Chamber of Commerce and Industry, who heads the private campaign.

“With this program, we can achieve herd immunity faster and soon we can eliminate this Covid pandemic,” said President Joko Widodo, who witnessed the event in Bekasi, which is about an hour’s drive from the capital.

India Reportedly Adding 17 Sequencing Labs 

India will  <https://www.bloomberg.com/news/terminal/QTA7MET0G1KW> add 17 laboratories to the Indian Sars Cov-2 Genomics Consortium, or Insacog, to help understand the spread of variants, the Economic Times reports citing Health Minister Harsh Vardhan. The minister announced the additions to the existing 10 labs, which were supposed to test 5% of positive samples from states and all positive international travelers, but are actually testing far fewer samples, according to the report.

Philippines Signs Its Biggest Vaccine Supply Pact With Pfizer 
The Philippines ordered 40 million  <https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2021-05-17/philippines-pfizer-sign-deal-for-40-million-covid-shots> coronavirus vaccine doses from Pfizer Inc., the Southeast Asian nation’s biggest supply agreement as it fights one of the region’s worst outbreaks. The country is targeting herd immunity this year to help an economy that remained in recession last quarter.

While the country expects more than 200 million vaccine doses to arrive this year, recruiting as many as 50,000 health workers to administer shots in key cities poses a challenge, Carlito Galvez, who leads the Philippines’ vaccine program, said in a briefing with President Rodrigo Duterte. Most doctors and nurses are still treating Covid-19 patients in hospitals, Galvez said, following a surge in infections that started mid-March.

The government plans to hire midwives, pharmacists, paramedics and medicals students to administer the vaccines, Galvez said. Inoculating workers and the poor will start this month, he said.

Hong Kong to Offer Jabs at Some Corporations
Hong Kong will start offering on-site Covid-19 vaccinations at major corporations from Tuesday, Chief Executive Carrie Lam said at a briefing. The city has administered about two million doses so far and has another two million in storage.

Macau Extends Some Quarantines 
Macau  <https://www.bloomberg.com/news/terminal/QTA0Q4T0G1L1> extended the quarantine period to 35 days from 28 days for visitors from the Philippines, India, Pakistan, Nepal or Brazil who have positive antibody test results, according to a government statement Monday. Visitors from other places who have antibodies will have their quarantine extended to 28 days from 21.

Japan’s Economy Struggles to Recover 
Japan’s recovery  <https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2021-05-17/japan-s-economic-recovery-stalls-amid-winter-virus-emergency> stalled last quarter, with the economy shrinking for the first time since last year’s pandemic collapse, as renewed restrictions to contain the coronavirus weighed on activity. Gross domestic product shrank an annualized 5.1% from the prior quarter in the three months through March, ending a two-quarter streak of double-digit growth, the Cabinet Office reported Tuesday. Economists had forecast a 4.5% contraction.

Half of U.S. Mask Deniers Will Also Skip Shot 
Americans who resisted wearing masks when they were urged to also were less inclined to get a Covid-19 vaccine, according to Kaiser Family Foundation data. Half of non-mask wearers said they would “definitely not” get vaccinated, according to a poll taken the week of March 15.

The foundation has been running surveys since December 2020, and has seen an increasing number of people who were on the fence about the vaccine get inoculated. But the number of people who say they definitely don’t want a Covid-19 vaccine has remained stable at 13% to 15%.

CDC Deputy Director to Retire 
Anne Schuchat, the principal deputy director at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention,  <https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2021-05-17/cdc-deputy-director-set-to-retire-in-second-high-profile-exit> will retire this summer. It’s a high-profile exit following the departure of another top official, Nancy Messonier, on Friday.

The moves come amid criticism of the agency’s communications and policy changes in response to emerging science on how the virus spreads through aerosols and when wearing masks is needed.

California to Keep Mask Rule for Another Month 
California will  <https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2021-05-17/california-to-keep-mask-mandate-in-place-for-another-month> keep its mask mandate in place until it fully reopens its economy on June 15 in an effort to persuade more residents to get vaccinated, breaking from other states that are dropping their requirements on the federal government’s advice.

It’s Back to the Classroom in N.J. 
New Jersey Governor Phil Murphy said all school districts must return to in-person learning by September.

The governor on Monday said his executive order allowing districts to provide remote instruction will expire at the end of the current school year. Full-time remote learning will no longer be an option, he said.

Murphy also lifted the state’s travel advisory that required visitors to quarantine, and he ended the outdoor mask mandate in public places. The requirement for masks in indoor public places remains in place, Murphy said.

N.Y. to Ease Mask Mandate 
New York will lift its  <https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2021-05-17/nyc-marathon-will-come-back-in-november-with-33-000-runners> mask mandate on Wednesday in accordance with national guidance from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention as Covid vaccinations approach 50% of the state’s residents and cases and hospitalizations ebb.

“All the arrows are pointed in the right direction, so let’s get back to life,” said Governor Andrew Cuomo in a briefing on Monday. “We need to get the exuberance back, the excitement back.”

Cuomo called the easing of the mask mandate a “radical adjustment of rules and guidelines” and said the state took a couple of days to analyze the guidance and align it with its own.

Italy to Phase Out Curfew 
Italy is set to to phase out a national curfew, currently set at 10 p.m., seeking to remove it on June 21, bowing to calls to reopen the country following a steady decrease in the number of cases.

At a Monday meeting, the government of Mario Draghi agreed to delay the curfew for low-risk areas to 11 p.m., and to allow indoor dining from June 1, according to an official who asked not to be named.

Biden to Send Vaccines Abroad 
President Joe Biden plans to send an  <https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2021-05-17/biden-to-send-u-s-authorized-vaccines-abroad-for-first-time> additional 20 million doses of U.S. coronavirus vaccines abroad by the end of June -- including, for the first time, shots authorized for domestic use, where supply is beginning to outstrip demand.

BioNTech Gets Refrigeration Extension 
BioNTech on Monday said the European Medicines Agency agreed to extend the time it would allow medical agencies to store the Covid-19 vaccine it makes with Pfizer at refrigeratior temperature to 31 days, longer than the five days it previously gave permission for. The change to the rules will allow for more vaccinations within Europe. The company said U.S. regulators are considering a similar request.

U.K. Finds More Cases of India Strain 
Authorities have identified 2,323 cases of the Indian strain of coronavirus in the U.K., Health Secretary Matt Hancock said, as the highly transmissible  <https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2021-05-18/u-k-rushes-to-vaccinate-as-contagious-covid-variant-advances> new variant spreads.

Speaking in Parliament on Monday, Hancock said 86 different local authority areas had now identified at least five people with the new strain.

Cases have doubled in the past week in Bolton, Blackburn and Darwen in northwestern England and the Indian variant is now the dominant strain of the virus, Hancock said.

He urged the public to get vaccinated, saying most people with the India strain in Bolton hospital hadn’t received a shot. Early evidence shows vaccines still work against this new variant, he added.

NYC Marathon to Return Nov. 7
The 50th running of the New York City Marathon, the biggest in the world and a major tourism draw for the city, will be held on Nov. 7, Governor Andrew Cuomo announced Monday.

The 26.2-mile (42-kilometer) race, which was canceled last year, will be held at 60% capacity, meaning about 33,000 runners will be able to participate. That capacity may be subject to change, the governor said. Registration will open June 8.

“The marathon is back,” Cuomo said.

Seychelles Using Russia’s Sputnik Shots
Seychelles, which has vaccinated a greater proportion of its population than any other nation against Covid-19, said it has started offering Russia’s Sputnik V vaccine in addition to the AstraZeneca Plc and Sinopharm shots.

So far 99% of the “target population” has been vaccinated with at least a single dose of vaccine and 88% have received two doses, the health ministry said in a statement on Monday. Still, Seychelles has seen a surge in cases in recent weeks.

China Donates Vaccines to Zimbabwe Army 
The People’s Liberation Army of China donated 100,000 Sinopharm vaccines to the Zimbabwe Defence Forces, the southern African nation’s Health Ministry said on its Twitter account.

The consignment was received by Defense Minister Oppah Muchinguri-Kashiri at the main airport in the capital, Harare, on Monday. The inoculations will benefit 50,000 military personnel, including war veterans and their dependents, it said.

Zimbabwe recorded 38,560 coronavirus infections and 1,582 deaths by May 16, according to government data.

U.S. Daily Cases Fall to 14-Month Low
The U.S. recorded 16,857 new coronavirus infections on Sunday, the lowest daily total since the early days of pandemic in March 2020, according to data compiled by Johns Hopkins University and Bloomberg. In January after a holiday-fueled surge, the U.S. was averaging about 250,000 new cases a day.

Sundays typically have the fewest reported cases of the week. Even so, yesterday’s total was the lowest for any day of the week since Wednesday, March 25, 2020.

For the week ended Sunday, new cases rose by 0.7%, the slowest increase of the pandemic. The weekly total of 232,839 new infections was the lowest since the seven days ended June 21.

Andy Slavitt, senior adviser for the Biden administration’s Covid response, said in a tweet Monday that cases are falling in all 50 states.

Pakistan Cases Drop After Week-Long Lockdown
New infections in Pakistan dropped to the lowest level in nine weeks after it imposed a week-long shutdown, according to data compiled by Bloomberg and Johns Hopkins University.

The nation, which is in the midst of a new wave of the virus, relaxed restrictions by resuming public transport and extending market opening hours.

Philippines Signs Deal for Pfizer Shots 
The Philippines signed an initial deal with Pfizer Inc. for 40 million vaccine doses, paving the way for the Southeast Asian nation’s biggest supply agreement. The country hopes to reach herd immunity this year to help it fight one of the region’s worst outbreaks.

INVESTORS DIARY 2021

Company

Event

Venue

Date & Time

Africa Day

25/05/21

Public Holiday in lieu of Independence Day falling on a Sunday

19/04/21

Companies under Cautionary

ART

PPC

Dairibord

Starafrica

Fidelity

Turnall

Medtech

Zimre

Nampak Zimbabwe

DISCLAIMER: This report has been prepared by Bulls ‘n Bears, a division of Faith Capital (Pvt) Ltd for general information purposes only and does not constitute an offer to sell or the solicitation of an offer to buy or subscribe for any securities. The information contained in this report has been compiled from sources believed to be reliable, but no representation or warranty is made or guarantee given as to its accuracy or completeness. All opinions expressed and recommendations made are subject to change without notice. Securities or financial instruments mentioned herein may not be suitable for all investors. Securities of emerging and mid-size growth companies typically involve a higher degree of risk and more volatility than the securities of more established companies. Neither Faith Capital nor any other member of Bulls ‘n Bears nor any other person, accepts any liability whatsoever for any loss howsoever arising from any use of this report or its contents or otherwise arising in connection therewith. Recipients of this report shall be solely responsible for making their own independent investigation into the business, financial condition and future prospects of any companies referred to in this report. Other  Indices quoted herein are for guideline purposes only and sourced from third parties.

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