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Insurers’ reliance on investments make them vulnerable due to COVID-19, says GlobalData
“Investments held in corporate bonds are particularly vulnerable to the impacts of an economic recession, with some businesses likely to default on payments. Insurers operating in the US are heavily invested in corporate bonds compared to their UK counterparts, and US life insurers in particular are more vulnerable to the downturn – given almost three quarters of their investments are in this area. This is especially true in the life sector where there is a 49.7 percentage-point difference between investments in corporate bonds. It also illustrates that the UK has a certain amount locked up in the relatively safe government securities, while this is not available in the US.”
US expects insurers to cover COVID vaccine without copays
Health insurers cover vaccines recommended by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices. They’re considered a preventive service, and the Affordable Care Act requires insurers cover them at no charge to patients. A range of screening tests, immunizations and birth control for women are already covered under the Obama-era Affordable Care Act. However, the Trump administration is pressing the courts to overturn Obamacare as unconstitutional.
WHO moves to update COVID-19 guidance after ‘great news’ in drug study
Although the dexamethasone study’s results are preliminary, the researchers behind the project said it suggests the drug should immediately become standard care in severely stricken patients.
China says it must improve hygiene in markets after Beijing outbreak
An Yufa, a professor at China Agricultural University, was cited in the report as saying the markets must follow international practice and implement origin tracing systems as well as documentation on storage, transport and sale.
Pandemic to nearly wipe out growth in developing Asia in 2020 – ADB
Developing Asia, a group of 45 countries in the Asia-Pacific region, is expected to post growth of just 0.1% in 2020, the ADB said in a supplement to its Asian Development Outlook report issued in April, the slowest pace since 1961, before growing 6.2% next year.The updated forecasts show more damage to economies in developing Asia than estimates it released it April, which predicted 2.2% growth for the region in 2020.
Former head of China insurance regulator jailed for 11 yrs on bribe conviction
Xiang Junbo was accused of taking kickbacks worth 18.6 million yuan ($2.6 million) in exchange for help securing project contracts and other tasks, the Xinhua news agency reported.
The bribes he accepted are to be recovered and turned over to state coffers, Xinhua reported, adding that Xiang would not be appealing the verdict.
Nigeria’s Swiss Re backed life insurer sees sales surge as Pandemic take hold
“Health workers are demanding it, other state governments and municipalities that didn’t have it before are now looking at it differently,” Leadway Assurance Co. Ltd. Chief Executive Officer Tunde Hassan-Odukale said in an interview in Lagos. “People who were not doing group life insurance before, are now looking at it on a corporate basis.”
Sales of group life policies have jumped 10% this year and the trend is expected to continue with COVID-19 cases in Nigeria still on the rise, he said. This may help to counteract pressure on the firm’s retail business, where individual life policies could be hit by a slowdown in economic activity because of lockdown measures to curb the spread of the disease.
Cargo ship calls at Singapore hub plummet to 27-year low, marine fuel sales fall
As the coronavirus pandemic hit global trade, the number of cargo ships calling at the world’s top transhipment port fell in May to 3,059, the lowest since at least January 1993, the oldest available figure, data from the Maritime and Port Authority of Singapore (MPA) showed.
Beijing imposes curbs as coronavirus returns to Chinese capital
China has completed genome sequencing for the coronavirus found in the samples collected in the latest outbreak and arrived at a preliminary conclusion, state media reported on Monday, citing Gao Fu, director of the Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention. Gao did not elaborate, however.
Efforts to trace the origins of the virus are still underway, Gao added.
An epidemiologist with the Beijing government said on Sunday a DNA sequencing of the virus showed the Xinfadi outbreak could have come from Europe.
AstraZeneca agrees to supply Europe with 400 million doses of COVID-19 vaccine
The deal is the first contract signed by Europe’s Inclusive Vaccines Alliance (IVA), a group formed by France, Germany, Italy and the Netherlands to secure vaccine doses for all member states as soon as possible.