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Non-Life

Asia supercharges vaccination efforts after slow start, U.S. lags

While each country’s inoculation strategies differ, Asia’s momentum reflects pent-up demand for the shots as a means to ease lockdowns, said Paul Griffin, an infectious disease expert at the University of Queensland in northeast Australia.

Australia is giving priority supplies to its largest cities, which are in lockdown to contain a third wave of infections fuelled by the Delta variant. It expects to have enough to complete vaccinations of those older than 12 by mid-October. read more

Japan has overcome initial logistics hurdles to give about a million shots a day since mid-June, as urgency has grown after Delta unleashed an unprecedented wave of infections and serious cases in August.

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Allianz Partners expands its Digital Health Assistant to ten markets in Asia-Pacific

“We are very excited to bring Digital Health Assistant to our customers and partners in the Asia-Pacific region. Allianz Partners’ focus on accelerating its Digital Access to Care initiatives comes at a time of increasing demand for telehealth solutions and comprehensive digital health services particularly in the context of the ongoing Pandemic. We’ve reached a new milestone in bringing peace of mind and reassurance to our customers with this all-in-one platform. Allianz Partners will continue to invest in bringing market leading health and mental wellbeing solutions to support our customers and communities,” comments Vinay Surana, CEO Asia Pacific, Allianz Partners.

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EU launches health crisis body to prepare for future pandemic

The new health emergency preparedness and response authority (HERA) will assess potential health threats, promote research, ensure the availability of critical production and help build stockpiles.

If a new health crisis struck, it would activate emergency funding and help coordinate monitoring, procurement and purchase of medical equipment or treatments.

The authority is partly designed to avoid a repeat of the ad hoc measures taken by individual EU countries at the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, some of them inefficient, others coming at the expense of other EU members.

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Large claims push up Cyber premiums by 39% for all European industries: Marsh

Malicious cyber events accounted for 80% of cyber claims made in Continental Europe last year, up from 70% in 2019,according to a report published by Marsh, the world’s largest insurance broker and risk advisor, in collaboration with Microsoft, international law firm CMS, and Kivu, a global cyber security firm,

Ransomware attacks accounted for 32% of cyber claims in 2020 – more than double that recorded for 2016-2020 (14%). Overall, cyber insurance claims across Continental Europe rose by 8% in 2020.

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Indian study finds big drop in COVID antibodies within four months of vaccination

Waning antibodies do not necessarily mean that immunised people lose their ability to counter the disease, as the body’s memory cells may still kick in to offer substantial protection, said the director of a state-run institute that did the study.

“After six months, we should be able to tell you more clearly whether and when a booster would be needed,” Sanghamitra Pati of the Regional Medical Research Centre, based in the eastern city of Bhubaneswar, told Reuters on Tuesday.

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