Meanwhile, India’s COVID-19 vaccination coverage has exceeded 48.93 cr. Cumulatively, 48,93,42,295 vaccine doses have been administered through 57,21,937 sessions, as per the provisional report till 7 am today. 37,55,115 vaccine doses were administered in the last 24 hours, said the Union Health Ministry.
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Delta variant now reported in 135 countries, global coronavirus cases could exceed 200 million by next week: WHO
The global number of new cases has been increasing for more than a month, with over 4 million cases reported in the past week – July 26 to August 1, the update said.
“This increasing trend is largely attributed to substantial increases in the Eastern Mediterranean and the Western Pacific Regions which reported 37 percent and 33 percent increases respectively as compared to the previous week, while the South-East Asia Region reported a 9 percent increase,” it said.
IMF OKs big increase in funds to alleviate pandemic impact
World economy in deep recession in 2020, growth to be -4.4%: IMF
Gopinath said for emerging market and developing countries, excluding China, IMF has a downgrade with growth projected to be – 5.7 percent in 2020 and then a recovery to 5 percent in 2021.
With this, the cumulative growth in per capita income for emerging-market and developing economies, excluding China, over 2020-21 is projected to be lower than that for advanced economies, she said.
Gopinath said that the considerable global fiscal support of close to $12 trillion and the extensive rate cuts, liquidity injections, and asset purchases by central banks helped save lives and livelihoods and prevented a financial catastrophe.
Policyholders can now opt for renewal, migration and portability of their standard Covid covers:IRDAI
In respect of Corona Kavach individual policies, insurers have the choice to offer migration to any other indemnity based health insurance product offered by them as per the option exercised by the policyholder.
These short term policies are permitted to be renewed till 31st March,2021.
Facebook will ban ads discouraging people from getting vaccines
Facebook is working with public health partners like the World Health Organization and UNICEF on messaging campaigns to increase immunization rates, they added.
Anti-vaccine content and misinformation about the new COVID-19 vaccines have flourished on social media platforms including Facebook during the coronavirus pandemic, researchers told Reuters earlier this year.
Lloyd’s headquarters to be transformed into a workplace for the future:CEO
“The Lloyd’s building is almost 35 years old, so how can it be the right environment for the market to operate?For the first time, we have both a virtual capability and a real capability operating simultaneously at Lloyd’s. We’ve also set some ideas on the table to metaphorically rip up the underwriting room and decide what it should look like in the 21st century, and what the marketplace should look like in the 21st century,” said Neal while speaking at a Virtual Reinsurance Renewal Season fireside chats.hosted by Dominic Christian, global chairman of Aon’s Reinsurance Solutions,
Asia Pacific health care benefit cost expected to jump by 8.5% in 2021, Willis Towers Watson survey
The 2021 Global Medical Trends Survey, the largest of its kind, found that medical insurers in APAC project health care benefit costs will take a sudden drop in 2020 before rebounding to 8.5% in 2021, up from 6.2% this year and 7.5% in 2019.
Markets including China (9.3%), India (10%), Indonesia (12%), Malaysia (12.5%), New Zealand (20%), Philippines (8.8%), Singapore (8.2%), Thailand (8%) and Vietnam (10.2%) will see an increase in excess of 8% next year.
According to the study, cancer (79%), cardiovascular diseases (76%), and conditions affecting musculoskeletal and connective tissue (42%) are the top three conditions currently affecting medical costs in APAC, with cancer and cardiovascular diseases expected to remain so in the near future.
As globe gallops into vaccine trials, insurers remain unfazed
While more than 40 experimental COVID-19 vaccines are being tested on humans, the insurance companies with decades of experience in assessing the risks of clinical trials don’t see anything to be unduly concerned about.
Executives at insurer Allianz and brokers Gallagher and Marsh, among the leading players in clinical trials insurance, told Reuters that premiums had only marginally increased so far in the current pandemic
COVID-19 school closure may cost over USD 400 billion to India, cause learning losses: World Bank
“Temporary school closures in all South Asian countries have had major implications for students. They have kept 391 million students out of school in primary and secondary education, further complicating efforts to resolve the learning crisis,” said the report.
J&J pauses COVID-19 vaccine trials due to unexplained illness in participant
J&J’s move follows a similar one by AstraZeneca Plc. In September, AstraZeneca AZN.L paused late-stage trials of its experimental coronavirus vaccine, developed with the University of Oxford, due to an unexplained illness in a UK study participant.
Freeport does a balancing act as world’s biggest gold mine grapples with COVID-19
“We’ve put the priority and the health of our workers and community at the top of our list,” Freeport McMoRan Chief Executive Richard Adkerson told Reuters. “From the outset, we recognized that (Grasberg) was a particularly vulnerable place due to the size of the workforce” of nearly 30,000 people.
Mexico makes nearly $160 million down payment for COVAX vaccine plan
The global health agency’s COVAX Facility is a multilateral initiative running trials on several potential vaccines. The latest payment will allow Mexico to acquire enough doses of a vaccine to immunize up to a fifth of the country’s population of around 125 million people, the foreign ministry said.