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Covid-19 Pandemic risks worsening on Africa variants, scientists say

A study of genomes from 33 African nations and two “overseas territories,” published in the journal Science on Thursday, tracks the evolution of the pandemic across the continent and the emergence of a number of so-called Variants of Concern and Variants of Interest. One of those, beta, spread around the globe earlier this year and rendered some vaccines partially ineffective.

The “slow rollout of vaccines in most African countries creates an environment in which the virus can replicate and evolve,” the organizations said. “This will almost certainly produce additional VOCs, any of which could derail the global fight against Covid-19.”

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CoWIN launches new API: KYC-VS — Know Your Customer’s/Client’s Vaccination Status

To provide proof of vaccination for each of these individuals, Co-WIN is already issuing a digitally verifiable certificate. This certificate can be saved on a digital device (smartphone, tablet, laptop, etc), or stored in Digi Locker from where it can be digitally shared as and when required as proof of vaccination, the ministry said in a statement.

Similarly, at entry points where such certificate is required (e.g., in malls, office complexes, public events, etc), it may be shown in both digital and physical forms.

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Why 7,000 steps a day is the new 10,000 steps a day

The good news for everyone is that the evidence is building to suggest that doing less than 10,000 steps is still good for your health. The most recent large study, led by the University of Massachusetts, followed over 2,000 middle-aged adults from different ethnic backgrounds over a period of 11 years. The researchers found that those taking at least 7,000 steps a day had a 50 to 70% lower risk of dying during the study period compared with those taking fewer than 7,000 steps a day.

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How lung cancer arises in non-smokers revealed

Lung cancer is the leading cause of cancer-related deaths worldwide. Every year, more than 2 million people around the world are diagnosed with the disease. Environmental risk factors, such as exposure to radon, air pollution, and asbestos, or having had previous lung diseases, may explain some lung cancers among never smokers, but scientists still don’t know what causes the majority of these cancers.

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Lloyd’s reports strong H1 2021 results with pre-tax profit of £1.4bn and 92.2% combined ratio

Premium rates increased by 9.9%, continuing the trend of 15 consecutive quarters of positive rate movement.

The combined ratio of 92.2% (HY 2020: 110.4% and 97.0% excluding COVID-19 claims) is a solid improvement with a 4.8 percentage point reduction on the previous year, excluding COVID-19. These results demonstrate the substantial turnaround of Lloyd’s profitability and performance.
Lloyd’s continued to provide significant support to its customers around the world, paying £9.4bn of claims, including to customers impacted by COVID-19 where 80% of the claims notified to date have been paid.

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Cannot order door-to-door COVID vaccination in this diverse country, or just scrap policy: SC

A bench of Justices D Y Chandrachud, Vikram Nath, and Hima Kohli refused to entertain a plea of a lawyers’ body seeking door-to-door COVID-19 jab for the disabled and people belonging to weaker sections of society, said the vaccination drive is already in progress and over 60 percent of the population has been administered the first dose.

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Reinsurance price rise slowing due to strong capital supply and recovering profitability: Fitch

Fitch expects the sector’s combined ratio, normalised for large losses, to improve by 2pp–3pp in 2021 and another 1pp–2pp in 2022 as price increases gradually feed into underwriting margins.

However, price rises are slowing due to strong capital supply and recovering profitability, and we expect risk-adjusted prices to remain largely unchanged in 2022.

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