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Eco/Invest/Demography

How the pandemic may change ‘work-life balance’ forever

Some of the best companies for work-life balance] have really great paid-time off policies, flexible working schedules, good parental leave, sabbaticals and gym credits,” said Amanda Stansell, senior research analyst at workplace website Glassdoor. But as workers shifted to remote work, the spirit of in-person events and company culture needed to be recreated at home

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Zydus Cadila’s COVID-19 vaccine candidate found safe in early-stage human trial

Zydus plans to complete late-stage trials for ZyCoV-D by February or March and could produce up to 100 million doses a year initially, the company’s chairman told Reuters last month.
India reported a daily jump of more than 50,000 coronavirus infections for the seventh straight day on Wednesday.Total cases now stand at 1.91 million, the third biggest, after the United States and Brazil

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The Pandemic workday Is 48 minutes longer and has more meetings

The researchers compared employee behavior over two 8 week periods before and after Covid-19 lockdowns. Looking at email and meeting meta-data, the group calculated the workday lasted 48.5 minutes longer, the number of meetings increased about 13% and people sent an average of 1.4 more emails per day to their colleagues. 
“People have adjusted their work patterns,” said Jeff Polzer, a professor in the organizational behavior department at Harvard Business School, one of the study’s five co-authors. 

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Construction sector sees significant increase in insurance premiums:Mactavish

Bruce Hepburn, CEO, Mactavish said: “Some of these problems are also affecting other sectors, but there are two factors that make them particularly challenging for construction companies. The first is the difficulties posed to the sector by the end of lockdown and return to work,which are far from straightforward on active construction sites. The second is the way in which commercial contracts create a complex web of liabilities and obligations across contractors, sub-contractors and other elements of the supply chain.”

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90% of recovered COVID-19 patients in Wuhan suffering from lung damage:report

According to the first phase results, 90 per cent of the patients” lungs are still in a damaged state, which means their lungs ventilation and gas exchange functions have not recovered to the level of healthy people, state-run Global Times reported.
Some recovered patients have to rely on oxygen machines even three months after being discharged from the hospital, Liang Tengxiao, a doctor from the Dongzhimen Hospital, Beijing University of Chinese Medicine, was quoted as saying by the report.

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COVID-19 tally rises to 18,55,745, recoveries cross 12-lakh mark in India

The death toll due to COVID-19 climbed to 38,938 with 803 fresh fatalities being reported in 24-hours, the data updated at 8 am showed.

A total of 12,30,509 people have recovered, while there are 5,86,298 active cases of coronavirus infection in the country presently.

The recovery rate among COVID-19 patients has risen to 66.31 per cent, while the fatality rate has further dropped to 2.10 pc, the data stated.

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Insurers face possible British action over calculation of pandemic payouts

Some insurers were making deductions for government loans – which businesses had received as a result of the pandemic – when calculating payouts.

The FCA said this could be appropriate but insurers should not take a one-size-fits-all approach and make uniform deductions.
The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) has taken eight insurers to court over business interruption policy wordings, which the insurers say do not cover the pandemic, with a ruling expected in mid-September.

But the case does not address how any resulting claims payments would be calculated, the FCA said on Monday.

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Disburse pension to elderly on time; provide PPE, face masks to people in old age homes:SC

A bench headed by Justice Ashok Bhushan said this while hearing a plea filed by former Union minister and senior advocate Ashwani Kumar who said that at the time of the pandemic, it is necessary that pension to elderly reaches them on time.

Kumar told the top court that crores of elderly people are living alone and appropriate direction should be issued that pension reaches to those, who are already identified and eligible for it, on time.

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Are pharma companies are trying to profiteer from Covid-19 vaccines

If a vaccine proves too expensive or difficult to obtain, those who seek exorbitant profits off of it will be scrutinized far more closely than bankers were after the 2008 crash. Actions like those that have already allowed insiders to pocket $80 million will provoke public revulsion, even if those trades were pre-scheduled. Calls to regulate sectors that take for granted intellectual property protections will grow exponentially. Those demands won’t be fanatical or radical, but mainstream.

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