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No clear link between school opening and COVID surge, study finds

IfE found that 52 countries that sent students back to school in August and September – including France and Spain – saw infection rates rise during the vacation compared to when they were closed.

In Britain and Hungary, however, infection levels dropped after initial school closures, remained low during the holidays, and began rising after reopening.
The vast majority – 92% – of countries that are through their first wave of COVID-19 infections have started to reopen school systems, even as some are seeing a second surge.

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Financial firms and governments deeply sceptical of cryptocurrencies: survey

Around 60% of respondents from financial firms, government and the private sector alike to the survey by the Royal United Services Institute think-tank and the Association of Anti-Money Laundering Specialists said cryptocurrencies were a risk rather than an opportunity. Illicit usage was the major concern.
The findings, one of the most detailed efforts yet to map out mainstream global views towards cryptocurrencies, lay bare the depth of skepticism towards the emerging tech.

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Lloyd’s launches “first-of-its-kind” parametric business interruption insurance policy for SMEs

Parametrix Insurance offers simple and reliable coverage by removing the traditional indemnity trigger that most insurance policies today use. Instead, the new solution uses a parametric trigger, meaning that the policy automatically pays out if a customer’s critical IT services – such as cloud, e-commerce or payment systems – are disrupted. This significantly reduces the time insurers spend assessing a loss or adjusting a claim.

The new product is led by Tokio Marine Kiln (TMK) and supported by other members of Lloyd’s Product Innovation Facility including RenaissanceRe. It is the first off-the-shelf parametric IT downtime policy tailored towards SMEs.

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AstraZeneca gets partial immunity in low-cost EU vaccine deal

Drugmakers have called on EU regulators to set up a Europe-wide compensation scheme, while patients’ organizations are calling for an EU-wide fund financed by pharmaceutical firms that would compensate for unexpected side-effects.

The EU legal regime is among the least favorable to drugmakers on compensation claims, although plaintiffs have rarely managed to win as the law requires them to prove the link between an illness and a vaccine that may have caused it.

The United States has granted immunity from liability for COVID-19 vaccines that receive regulatory approval. Meanwhile, Russia has said it would shoulder some of the legal liability should anything go wrong with the vaccine developed by Moscow’s Gamaleya Institute.

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World Bank seeks board approval for $12 billion coronavirus vaccine financing plan

Malpass said the World Bank plan aimed to put poor and middle-income countries, where the virus is spreading most rapidly, on the same footing as richer countries by ensuring they have financing to secure supplies and a system for distribution, which will encourage drugmakers to meet their demand.

Without early doses that can bring outbreaks under control, many of these countries risk economic collapse that will push hundreds of millions of people back into poverty.

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