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Eco/Invest/Demography

Insurer Centene to buy Magellan in $2.2 billion mental health push

The move by Centene to expand mental health support comes as more than two out of five Americans are struggling with mental or behavioral health issues associated with the pandemic, the company said.
“I was thinking about it long before the pandemic, the pandemic just emphasized it,” said Centene Chairman, President and Chief Executive Michael Neidorff.
Centene’s patients, after being diagnosed with a serious illness, such as cancer, would benefit from having increased access to mental health care, Neidorff added.

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IRDAI unveils mandatory standard detariffed products for dwellings, micro and small enterprises

The new products can be sold by the general insurers from 1st April, 2021
IRDAI has now issued guidelines whereby the Standard Fire and Special Perils (SFSP) Policy provided for in the AIFT 2001 will be replaced by the standard products that will  be mandatorily offered by all general insurers carrying on Fire and allied perils insurance business with effect from 1st April, 2021.

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Bird flu: J-K, K’taka, Tamil Nadu on alert; culling of chickens and ducks starts in Kerala

In Madhya Pradesh, officials said that 155 dead crows in Indore have been found with the H5N8 strain since the pathogen was first detected in the city a week back, while in Rajasthan, after Jhalwar, birds in Kota and Baran were found with the infection. However, no cases have been reported yet in Maharashtra, which shares borders with Madhya Pradesh.

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Speedy distribution of Covid-19 vaccine a major challenge for global govts: WHO experts

Currently, there are 45 candidate vaccines in clinical evaluation and 156 candidate vaccines in pre-clinical evaluation, the WHO scientists said.
This daunting challenge is not only for India but also for all the governments across the globe as they start inoculating their populations to tackle the pandemic, noted Dr Soumya Swaminathan, Chief Scientist of WHO, and Dr Hamsadvani Kuganantham, Consultant, WHO.

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World risks ‘moral catastrophe’ if COVID shots delayed in Africa, its CDC chief says

Cases of the new coronavirus increased by nearly 19% since last week and deaths increased by 26%, according to Africa CDC data. Africa has recorded 2.7 million coronavirus infections and 64,000 deaths as of Thursday, it says.

South Africa, where a new variant of the virus has been detected, recorded 82,000 cases in the past week, he said.

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