Coronavirus Global Updates May 20 :::Taiwan Cases Surge, Thai Workers Join Vaccine Line

Thu May 20 11:09:11 CAT 2021

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Coronavirus Global Updates May 20 :::Taiwan Cases Surge, Thai Workers Join Vaccine Line

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Zimbabwe COVID19 Update

COVID-19 update: As at 19 May 2021, Zimbabwe had 38 612 confirmed cases, including 36 416 recoveries and 1 583 deaths. To date, a total of 605 556 people have been vaccinated against COVID-19. 

Taiwan Cases Surge, Thai Workers Join Vaccine Line: Virus Update

Taiwan is facing major threats from a surge in coronavirus cases, prompting a decline in stocks after a soft lockdown was extended to the entire island.

Thailand is adding workers to the front of the vaccination queue to buttress the economy as a raging Covid outbreak threatens to delay plans to reopen borders for tourists. The Philippines ordered inoculation centers only to disclose their vaccine type to recipients on-site to overcome “brand preference.” Vietnam may cut the quarantine for vaccinated travelers arriving at airports to seven from 21 days.

Data from the U.S., Israel, Qatar and Malta suggest messenger RNA vaccines developed by Moderna Inc. and the Pfizer Inc.-BioNTech SE partnership are more effective in quelling transmission of the virus. Meanwhile, vaccine holdouts in Africa could pose another big challenge for global efforts to end the pandemic.

EasyJet Readies for Tumultuous Summer Amid Slow Reopening 
EasyJet Plc  <https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2021-05-20/easyjet-readies-for-tumultuous-summer-amid-slow-reopening> reined in its plans for capacity growth and said it’s expecting a summer of gradually recovering demand as European destinations seek to reopen travel while continuing to battle the coronavirus outbreak.

Europe’s second-biggest discount airline expects to offer only 15% of its pre-virus capacity in the current quarter, compared with 20% previously, before building up flights from June, it said Thursday after reporting a loss of 701 million pounds ($990 million) for the first half through March.

Malaysian Businesses Advocate Tighter Curbs Amid Lockdown Fears 
Malaysian industries are  <https://www.bloomberg.com/news/terminal/QTE28IT1UM0W> calling on the government to tighten virus protocols and accelerate the vaccine roll-out, in a bid to stave off a full lockdown as infections climb to a record.

The Malaysian Iron and Steel Federation asked the government to assure there would be “no total lockdown” to maintain business confidence, while proposing tighter curbs on public mobility and work-from-home practices. The Chemical Industries Council of Malaysia suggested reducing the workforce on site and increasing fines to ensure better compliance.

Vaccine Holdouts in Africa Reject World’s Route to Recovery 
A handful of vaccine holdouts in the world’s least-inoculated continent could  <https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2021-05-20/vaccine-holdouts-in-africa-reject-world-s-route-to-recovery> pose another big challenge for global efforts to end the pandemic.

Burundi, Tanzania and Eritrea have so far rejected the World Health Organization’s advice to register for Covax, an initiative to distribute vaccines to poorer countries, with some officials downplaying the impact of Covid-19 and effectiveness of jabs that have allowed several countries to begin opening up.

Thailand to Prioritize Vaccines for Workers to Revive Economy 
Thailand  <https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2021-05-20/thailand-to-prioritize-vaccines-for-workers-to-revive-economy> is adding workers to the front of the vaccination queue in an effort to buttress the economy as a raging Covid outbreak threatens to delay plans to reopen borders for foreign tourists.

Millions of employees under the social security program in Bangkok, the nation’s capital and financial hub, and nine provinces with large economies will get their shots along with other priority groups, including senior citizens and individuals with underlying conditions, according to Prime Minister Prayuth Chan-Ocha.

Philippines Seeks to Overcome Vaccine Brand Preference 
The Philippine Interior Department  <https://mailchi.mp/273d02f1fc5d/dilg-tells-lgus-not-to-announce-brand-of-vaccines-to-be-used-for-inoculation?fbclid=IwAR0JzFC2auBy5yiWt26C3abR07wiZ75LkYbaxldKQcY3Tr9mKWQhWDFAvBo> ordered local governments not to announce available vaccine brands at vaccination centers, saying there’s a “need to educate the people in order to overcome brand preference.”

Vaccine recipients will only be informed of the brand on-site, and can refuse to inoculated. The order is also to prevent crowding, after long queues  <https://newsinfo.inquirer.net/1433558/crowds-at-pfizer-jab-sites-possible-superspreaders> formed at the Pfizer vaccine rollout in the capital earlier this week.

The Southeast Asian nation has administered nearly 3.3 million shots, with the pace of vaccinations improving from last week, as it targets herd immunity this year to fight one of the region’s worst Covid-19 outbreaks.

Taiwan’s Once Blistering Economy Is Battered From All Sides 
Taiwan is facing major threats from a  <https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2021-05-19/taiwan-s-once-blistering-economy-is-now-battered-from-all-sides> surge in coronavirus cases and drought-triggered power outages, potentially derailing one of Asia’s economic success stories this year.

The island has gone from zero local cases earlier this month to recording 1,226 domestic infections in the past five days alone, and stocks fell Thursday after a soft lockdown was extended to the entire island. Schools were already closed, but the new rules mean masks are mandatory outdoors, with limits on social gatherings and the closure of many public facilities.

 <https://www.bloomberg.com/news/terminal/QTE6KOT1UM0W> Taiwan Reports 286 Local Cases of Covid-19 Thursday

Vietnam May Shorten Quarantine for Vaccinated Travelers 
Vietnam may cut the quarantine for vaccinated travelers arriving at the country’s airports to seven from 21 days.

Travelers “who are seen as safe only need seven-day quarantines and their health will be monitored after leaving the quarantine facilities,” Deputy Premier Vu Duc Dam said in an instruction, according to a post on the health ministry’s website, referring to fully-inoculated visitors. New guidance is expected to be issued by the ministry in a week.

Vietnam increased mandatory quarantines for travelers arriving in the country to 21 days from 14 days earlier this month following a flareup in domestic infections.

Singapore Orders Correction to Online Posts About Virus Variant 
Singapore’s Ministry of Health  <https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2021-05-20/singapore-orders-correction-to-online-posts-on-new-virus-variant> issued an order to Facebook Inc., Twitter Inc. and SPH Magazines requiring corrections to be made over what it says are online falsehoods that imply a new coronavirus variant had originated in the country.

“There is no new ‘Singapore’ variant of Covid-19,” the ministry said in a statement. “Neither is there evidence of any Covid-19 variant that is ‘extremely dangerous for kids’. The strain that is prevalent in many of the Covid-19 cases detected in Singapore in recent weeks is the B.1.617.2 variant, which originated from India.”

Japan Panel Seen Approving AstraZeneca Vaccine 
A Japanese health ministry panel is expected to approve the use of AstraZeneca Plc’s Covid vaccine at a meeting scheduled Thursday after trials held in the nation confirmed effectiveness, public broadcaster NHK  <https://www.bloomberg.com/news/terminal/QTDLG0T1UM0X> reported, citing an unidentified person.

The broadcaster reported Tuesday that the ministry also plans to approve the use of Moderna Inc.’s Covid vaccine.

Pfizer Shot Can Be in Fridge for a Month 
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration has authorized storage of thawed, undiluted Pfizer Covid-19 vaccine in the refrigerator for as long as one month, according to a statement from the regulators.

When initially authorized late last year, the shot had to be kept at ultracold temperatures, which limited its use in some areas that didn’t have access to the required storage technology. Previously, the shot could only be kept in a refrigerator for as long as five days. Regulators in Canada have issued a similar clearance.

Some Shots Better at Cutting Transmission 
Data indicate mRNA vaccines are better at stopping people from  <https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2021-05-19/some-vaccines-help-nations-exit-the-pandemic-faster-than-others> becoming contagious, helping reduce onward transmission. Other vaccines, while effective in preventing acute illness or death from Covid, appear not to have this extra perk to the same degree.

“This will be an increasing trend as countries start to realize that some vaccines are better than others,” said Nikolai Petrovsky, a professor at the College of Medicine and Public Health at Flinders University in South Australia. While the use of any vaccine “is still better than nothing,” he said, some doses “may have little benefit in preventing spread, even if they reduce the risk of death or severe disease.”

ImmunityBio Shot to Be Studied as Booster 
ImmunityBio Inc.’s hAd5 T-cell Covid-19 vaccine candidate is being  <https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2021-05-19/immunitybio-shot-considered-as-booster-in-s-africa-covid-study> considered as a booster shot in a study of almost 500,000 South African health workers who have received Johnson & Johnson’s inoculation.

The health workers, the first people outside of much smaller studies to be vaccinated in South Africa, will need a booster, according to Glenda Gray, the co-lead of the South African studies. “It could be the universal boost that we are looking for,” she said. “Hopefully we will start in a couple of weeks.”

Amazon Ends Mask Rule for Vaccinated Workers 
Amazon.com Inc.’s fully vaccinated staff in frontline jobs in the U.S. won’t have to wear masks starting on Monday next week, unless mandated by state or local regulations.

Workers who are fully vaccinated and have a copy of their vaccine card won’t have to wear face coverings in the company’s warehouses and other logistics depots, Amazon said in a message to employees on Wednesday.

Amazon, which employs about 1.3 million people, is the second-largest private sector employer in the U.S. behind Walmart Inc. The online retailer instituted its mask requirement in April 2020.

N.Y. Positivity Rate Falls to 1% 
The seven-day average Covid-19 positivity rate in New York state dropped to 1.06%, the lowest since Sept. 27, Governor Andrew Cuomo said in a statement Wednesday. It was the 44th straight day of declines. Hospitalizations fell to 1,521, the fewest since Nov. 8.

“New York is making tremendous strides in beating back Covid -- our positivity rates are the lowest we’ve seen in months and more than 10 million New Yorkers have received at least one dose of the vaccine,” Cuomo said.

Separately, New York Mayor Bill de Blasio said the city would keep the mask mandate in place in municipal offices because there are vaccinated and unvaccinated people working together. He said the three measures tracked closely by the city -- cases, deaths and hospitalizations -- have all dropped below the city’s threshold. The closely watched hospitalization rate that has dropped below 1 per 100,000 residents.

Over 70% of U.K. Adults Have Gotten 1 Dose (10:45 a.m. NY)
More than 70% of U.K. adults have received at least one dose of Covid vaccine, the Department of Health and Social Care said, and about 40% of people are fully vaccinated. The country’s health services have administered 57.8 million vaccines as of May 18, an effort that began in December, according to a statement. The U.K. remains on track to offer a first dose to all adults by the end of July, the agency said.

Emergent Failed to Address Problems: Panel 
A probe by the U.S. Congress into Emergent BioSolutions Inc. found that the contract manufacturer  <https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2021-05-19/emergent-didn-t-address-problems-in-vaccine-process-panel-says> failed to address deficiencies in vaccine production at its facilities despite warnings following a series of inspections in 2020.

Emergent, which was tasked with manufacturing the underlying drug substance used in the Johnson & Johnson and AstraZeneca Plc Covid-19 vaccines, has faced production setbacks after conflating the active ingredient used in the two vaccines. The error at its Baltimore plant in late February led it to discard 15 million doses worth of an ingredient used in the J&J shot, and has delayed the vaccine maker’s ability to supply the U.S. and world.

Swiss Earmark Funds for Vaccines 
Switzerland has earmarked an additional 50 million francs ($55 million) for Covid-19 treatments and vaccines. The government has already decided to order vaccines for 2022, and intends to extend business with developers Moderna Inc. and the Pfizer Inc.-BioNTech SE partnership beyond that date to guard against emerging variants of the virus.

Switzerland also wants to work with businesses and institutions of higher education to ensure that in the event of another pandemic, the country is well placed to develop and manufacture vaccines.

Pakistan Relaxes Restrictions 
Pakistan will reopen the tourism sector and outdoor restaurants to full capacity starting on May 24, according to a statement. Educational institutions in districts with less than 5% Covid-19 positivity rates, as well as outdoor marriage ceremonies with a maximum of 150 people will reopen on June 1.

Dogs Sniff Out Covid From Sweat 
Dogs are able to  <https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2021-05-19/dogs-sniffing-covid-from-sweat-fare-almost-as-well-as-pcr-tests> detect Covid-19 in humans, a new study showed, paving the way for the broader use of sniffing canines in a global effort to contain the pandemic.

The dogs’ detection reached 97% sensitivity in the French study, meaning that’s how well the canines could identify positive samples. The sensitivity rating beats that of many 15-minute antigen tests, which tend to be better at ruling out infection than at finding it.

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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