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Pandemic

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Insurers will seek to benefit from open banking through partnerships post-COVID-19:GlobalData

Jazmin Chong, Insurance Analyst at GlobalData, comments: “The increased implementation of open banking and greater understanding of customers’ information will lead to an uptake of purchases through apps and mobile devices. This is due to the information exchange that insurers will have access to, allowing them to require less information from customers. It will also enable customers to use apps in a fast and more confident manner, as current app purchases still largely require extensive information that is more comfortable to fill out on a computer.”

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Russia vaccine roll-out plan prompts virus mutation worries

Sputnik-V’s developers, as well as financial backers and Russian authorities, say the vaccine is safe and that two months of small-scale human trials have shown that it works.

But the results of those trials have not been made public, and many Western scientists are sceptical, warning against its use until all internationally approved testing and regulatory hurdles have been passed.

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India faces protracted slowdown as virus clouds rural revival

“The economic situation has in fact worsened since April and May, and we are likely moving towards a longer economic slowdown than earlier expected,” a finance ministry official said.

The official pointed to sluggish consumer demand and a slowdown in rural lending as causes for concern.

“The situation on the economy front is very serious and the government’s hands are tied on the fiscal front,” a government adviser with direct knowledge of India’s budget plans said.

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Covid hit 20% of meat workers in No. 1 chicken exporter Brazil

Employees in the meat industry have been deemed essential globally as companies try to keep up with protein demand. But the workers face conditions ripe for the spread of disease, and outbreaks have emerged from South America to Europe and Australia. Brazil is the world’s biggest exporter of poultry and beef and a key supplier of pork.

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Insurer AIA’s new business drops 37% in first-half as pandemic hits sales

Insurers across the world have been hit by pandemic-related claims including for travel, business interruption and event cancellation, while economic slowdown and job losses have led to reduced demand for life insurance.

In Asia, insurance firms mainly rely on their army of agents for product sales, which have been dented by lockdown and social distancing measures put in place in various countries to contain the pandemic.

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Drug costs for COVID-19 patients plunge at U.S. hospitals, but may rise

Research by the health data firm IllumiCare and exclusively shared with Reuters found that hospitals spent $1,090 per COVID-19 patient on medication in July. That was down from $3,011 in May among more than 50 hospitals in 10 states that were analyzed.

Several factors drove down the number. The average length of stay for COVID-19 patients declined by nearly 30%, from 9.6 days in April to 6.8 days in July, the hospital data show. And the number of medications used dropped by 22%, from nearly 20 individual drugs in April to 15.4 drugs in July.

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