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Eco/Invest/Demography

Covid-19: China’s port shutdown raises fears of closures worldwide

The shutdown at Ningbo-Zhoushan is raising fears that ports around the world will soon face the same kind of outbreaks and Covid restrictions that slowed the flows of everything from perishable food to electronics last year as the pandemic took hold. Infections are threatening to spread at docks just as the world’s shipping system is already struggling to handle unprecedented demand with economies reopening and manufacturing picking up.

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US FDA okays Covid booster dose for those with weak immune system

The third dose will be administered at least 28 days following the two-dose regimen of the same vaccine to individuals 18 years of age or older (ages 12 or older for Pfizer-BioNTech) who have undergone solid organ transplantation, or who are diagnosed with conditions that are considered to have an equivalent level of immunocompromise, the agency said in a statement on Thursday.

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Covid-19 infection linked to problems in thinking, attention: Study

“Our study adds to an increasing body of research that is looking at different aspects of how COVID-19 might be impacting the brain and brain function,” said study first author Adam Hampshire from Imperial College London in the UK.”This research is all converging to indicate that there are some important effects of COVID-19 on the brain that need further investigation,” Hampshire said.

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Ex-director seeks to stall $2 bln Paytm IPO, company calls it harassment

Irrespective of what the regulator decides, the dispute could become a legal headache ahead of the much-awaited IPO of Paytm, which counts China’s Alibaba and Japan’s SoftBank among its investors. Neither responded to a request for comment.

At the heart of the dispute is a one-page document signed between Saxena and Paytm’s billionaire CEO, Vijay Shekhar Sharma, in 2001. Seen by Reuters, it says Saxena was to get a 55% equity stake in Paytm’s parent, One97 Communications, with Sharma owning the rest.

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India’s chronic disease burden helped fuel Covid-19’s brutal waves

For years India has faced an escalating non-communicable disease crisis as its middle-class expands and leads a more sedentary and affluent lifestyle. That makes them susceptible to ailments such as diabetes and heart disease that account for almost two-thirds of all deaths in the country. Those existing conditions may have allowed the coronavirus to do more damage, boosting cases and fatalities and potentially fueling the near collapse of India’s health system.

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