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Novavax signs COVID-19 vaccine supply deal with India’s Serum Institute
Novavax Inc said on Wednesday it has entered a supply and license agreement with the Serum Institute of India for the development and commercialization of its COVID-19 vaccine candidate. The Indian drugmaker will have exclusive rights for the vaccine in India...
Beirut devastating explosion to weigh on Lebanon’s challenged insurance sector:AM Best
Insurance penetration rates in Lebanon generally are low and property insurance represents only a small fraction of the Lebanese insurance industry, which is dominated by three segments: life, medical and motor. Based on the latest available data, together these segments accounted for almost 85% of Lebanon’s gross written premium (GWP) in 2018.
India needs to look beyond what rating agencies think, says ex-RBI governor
“What India should focus on at this point is protecting its economic capabilities, so that when it has dealt with the virus it can go resume activity in a reasonable way. That should be the focus.And if it does that, there is no reason why the rating agencies will not see that as an appropriate policy,” Former Reserve Bank of India governor Raghuram Rajan said.
Centre releases Rs 890 cr as 2nd tranche of package for COVID-19 health system preparedness
The second instalment of the aid will be used to strengthen public health infrastructure for testing, including procurement and installation of RT-PCR machines, RNA extraction kits, TrueNat and CB-NAAT machines, bolster infrastructure for treatment and development of ICU beds, installation of oxygen generators and procurement of bedside oxygen concentrators among others.
It would also be used for engagement, training and capacity building of necessary human resources and incentives to healthcare workforce and volunteers, including ASHA workers on COVID-19 duties, the health ministry said
Life insurers can obtain customer’s consent without requiring wet signature in pure risk products till Dec 31:IRDAI
The prospect, if he / she wishes to consent to the proposal, may do so by clicking the confirmation link or by validating the OTP shared. The insurer has to maintain verifiable, legally valid evidence for the proposer’s consent received for the fully completed proposal form. Further, the insurer can’t accept any payment of moneys towards proposal deposit till the receipt of consent of the proposer.
Obama’s Medicaid expansion keeps gaining ground under Trump
Medicaid expansion is a central feature of former President Barack Obama’s Affordable Care Act, covering about 12 million people, while nearly 10 million others get subsidised private insurance.
If present trends continue, it’s only a matter of time until all states expand Medicaid, acknowledged Brian Blase, a former health care adviser in the Trump White House, who remains opposed to the expansion.
Medicaid expansion is terrible policy, but it is attractive to states because it’s almost all federal spending and the insurance companies and hospitals get lots of dollars when a state expands Medicaid, he said.
The federal government pays 90 per cent of the cost of covering people through the expansion, a much higher matching share than for low-income disabled and elderly people traditionally covered by Medicaid. Blase argues that’s an incentive to waste federal dollars.
Modern driver-assistance technology ‘far from reliable’ – AAA study
Automakers are accelerating the automation of routine driving tasks including cruising on a highway and stop-and-go traffic. The options offer a new source of profit for automakers as more consumers buy or lease vehicles with Advanced Driver Assistance Systems.
Some of the systems, such as automatic emergency braking, have proven safety benefits, while others, including pedestrian detection, are still in their infancy.
Global recovery could be faster if COVID vaccine made available to all:WHO chief
“Sharing vaccines or sharing other tools actually helps the world to recover together. The economic recovery can be faster and the damage from COVID-19 could be less,” World Health Organization Director General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus .
“Vaccine nationalism is not good, it will not help us,” he said in an allusion to the competitive scramble of nations and pharmaceutical researchers to come up with an effective vaccine and order as many doses as possible in advance.
It’s not for me:speed of COVID-19 vaccine race raises safety concerns
Regulators around the world have repeatedly said speed will not compromise safety, as quicker results would stem from conducting in parallel trials that are usually done in sequence.
However, these reassurances have failed to convince many, including in Western countries where scepticism about vaccinations was already growing before the pandemic.
Preliminary results of a survey conducted over the last three months in 19 countries showed that only about 70% of British and U.S. respondents would take a COVID-19 vaccine if available, Scott Ratzan, co-leader of ‘Business Partners to CONVINCE’, told Reuters.
10 countries account for 80% of Africa COVID-19 testing:Africa CDC
Munich Re hit with Covid-19 losses of $832 million in Q2
Container ships sent to Tripoli to keep Lebanon supply lines running
Ship insurer Gard said: “According to our correspondents, the port of Beirut is closed for a minimum period of 14 days which could be extended until port facilities have been restored.”
The International Transport Workers’ Federation, which represents seafarers, quoted its representatives in Lebanon as saying at least 12 dockers and seven separate seafarers had been killed in the port. The figure could not be independently confirmed.
Lebanon, which imports almost all it uses, relies on container ships to bring in everything from refrigerated food cargoes to clothing and other consumer goods.
There is no firm date for Beirut port to re-open, and this is a strain on supply chains.
Robots running the industrial world are open to cyber attacks
Robots are often connected to networks and run via software, according to the report, and previously unknown vulnerabilities could allow hackers to hide malicious code in them and other automated, programmable manufacturing machines.
The researcher found flaws in software produced and distributed by the Swedish-Swiss multinational ABB Ltd, one among world’s largest industrial robot maker. They also found other vulnerabilities in one of industry’s most popular open-source software called “Robot Operating System Industrial”, or Ros-I, adapted for ABB and for Kuka AG, a German robot maker.
Morgan Stanley launches Property & Casualty insurance for high net worth clients
Through this new arrangement, HUB International, Marsh Private Client Services, and Willis Towers Watson will assist Morgan Stanley clients in assessing their risk exposures and provide solutions to help them protect their assets. The insurance brokers will leverage their deep relationships with a vast array of insurance companies and their global footprint of dedicated specialists and in-house resources
Global coronavirus deaths exceed 700,000, one person dies every 15 seconds on average
Even in parts of the world that had appeared to have curbed the spread of the virus, countries have recently seen single-day records in new cases, signaling the battle is far from over. Australia, Japan, Hong Kong, Bolivia, Sudan, Ethiopia, Bulgaria, Belgium, Uzbekistan and Israel all recently had record increases in cases.
Proportion of youth with COVID-19 triples in five months: WHO
An analysis by the WHO of 6 million infections between Feb. 24 and July 12 found that the share of people aged 15-24 years rose to 15% from 4.5%.
Apart from the United States which leads a global tally with 4.8 million total cases, European countries including Spain, Germany and France, and Asian countries such as Japan, have said that many of the newly infected are young people.
“Younger people tend to be less vigilant about masking and social distancing,” Neysa Ernst, nurse manager at Johns Hopkins Hospital’s biocontainment unit in Baltimore, Maryland told Reuters in an email.
How the pandemic may change ‘work-life balance’ forever
Some of the best companies for work-life balance] have really great paid-time off policies, flexible working schedules, good parental leave, sabbaticals and gym credits,” said Amanda Stansell, senior research analyst at workplace website Glassdoor. But as workers shifted to remote work, the spirit of in-person events and company culture needed to be recreated at home