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Large U.S. COVID-19 vaccine trials will exclude pregnant women for now

by | Jul 31, 2020 | , , ,

Bioethicists, vaccine and maternal health experts have argued for years that pregnant women should be included early in trials of pandemic vaccines so they would not need to wait until long after a successful candidate emerges. That debate fell on deaf ears in recent outbreaks of Ebola and Zika, but has taken on new urgency in the era of COVID-19, as studies show pregnant women are at increased risk of severe disease from the new coronavirus.

U.S.consumer spending presses ahead; declining income poses challenge

by | Jul 31, 2020 | , , , ,

The extra unemployment checks are worth about $75 billion per month and accounted for nearly 5% of personal income in June. A staggering 30.2 million Americans were receiving unemployment checks in the week ending July 11. Though government welfare payments have been declining after jumping 110% in April, unemployment benefits increased 8.5% in June.
Consumers socked away $1.3 trillion over the last three months. Savings funded spending last month, pulling the saving rate down to a still-high 19% from 24.2% in May.

Facebook raises settlement to $650 million in facial recognition lawsuit

by | Jul 31, 2020 | , , ,

The social media giant reached a $550 million settlement in January regarding the same lawsuit, which started in 2015, when Illinois users accused the company of violating the state’s Biometric Information Privacy Act in collecting biometric data.
In 2019, a U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals court swatted away Facebook’s  claim that facial recognition data did not count as biometric data, stating that “development of face template using facial-recognition technology without consent (as alleged here) invades an individual’s private affairs and concrete interests.”

India found cybersecurity lapses at National Payments Corp in 2019 – government document

by | Jul 30, 2020 | , , , ,

The March 2019 government document cited the storing of 16-digit card numbers and other personal information such as customer names, account numbers and national identity numbers in “plain text” in some databases, leaving the data unprotected if the system was breached. The audit has not previously been reported.

Swiss Re reshuffles APAC management team

by | Jul 30, 2020 | , ,

According to a Swiss Re announcement on Thursday, Sharon Ooi,currently managing director, head of P&C underwriting APAC, based in Singapore will relocate to Sydney to become head of Australia and New Zealand,

Sharon will replace Mark Senkevics who in turn will take charge of Ooi’s current role and lead Swiss Re’s APAC property and casualty (P&C) underwriting business from Sydney,

Coastal flooding could hit 20% of world GDP by 2100 – study

by | Jul 30, 2020 | , , , , , ,

Flood events that have typically occurred once in 100 years “could occur as frequently as once in 10 years” for much of the world, said the authors of the report, including researchers at the universities of Amsterdam, Melbourne and the Global Climate Forum.

Indian mortality protection gap hits $16.5 trillion in 2019:Swiss Re study

by | Jul 29, 2020 | , , ,

Swiss Re has suggested that Indian life insurers should provide comprehensive rather than pure life products, bundle life cover with other small premium riders, such as accident, medical reimbursement and long-term care, simplify product design for better consumer understanding, sell or distribute simple bundled products through digital channel and use agent for more complex and expensive policies with savings element.

Hong Kong moves to create regional hub for insurance-linked securities

by | Jul 29, 2020 | , , , ,

The Hong Kong government introduced in March the Insurance (Amendment) Bill 2020[here]. The bill provides a regulatory framework for insurers to transfer risk to the capital markets by issuing insurance-linked securities in Hong Kong through special purpose insurers, or SPIs. Special purpose insurers are essentially the same as the dedicated special purpose vehicles that are authorized in other jurisdictions to issue insurance-linked securities, or ILSs.

UK sets up $647 million emergency insurance fund for film and TV

by | Jul 29, 2020 | , , ,

As filmmakers try to get back to work, they are finding some insurers have stopped providing the COVID-19 coverage they need to secure financing.

The government said the insurance fund will be available to all productions made by companies where at least half the production budget is spent in the UK, and is estimated to cover more than 70% of the film and TV production market.

More S.African insurers yield to customer demands to pay COVID BI claims

by | Jul 29, 2020 | , , , , , , , ,

The FSCA and the Prudential Authority, which oversees the strength of the financial-services industry, last week struck a deal with insurers to consider once-off payments to help keep customers afloat, while courts decide whether insurers are correctly interpreting the terms of contracts.

In Mumbai’s slums,over half of population probably infected with coronavirus,survey says

by | Jul 29, 2020 | , , , ,

Suresh Kakani, an official at Mumbai’s civic body, said the results of the serological survey showed that the city may be inching towards herd immunity.
Around 65% of Mumbai’s 12 million people live in the cramped, airless slums, making for easy transmission of the disease. The survey found that only 16% of those living outside the slums had been exposed to the virus, the low proportion likely the result of social distancing and lockdowns.
About 57% of slum-dwellers have tested positive for antibodies for the coronavirus, from a random sample size of 7,000 people, according to the survey jointly conducted by Mumbai’s municipality, government think tank Niti Aayog and the Tata Institute of Fundamental Research.