Dubai youngster Gabriel works in an aquaponic herb garden at an eco-friendly summer camp at the city's Arbor School. Chris Whiteoak / The National

Coronavirus: where the world is at with the pandemic right now



Here's what you need to know about the coronavirus right now:

Implications of reinfection cases

Two patients, in Belgium and the Netherlands, are confirmed to have been reinfected with Covid-19, following a report this week by Hong Kong researchers about a man who had contracted a different strain of the virus four-and-a-half months after being declared recovered.

"Viruses mutate and that means that a potential vaccine is not going to be a vaccine that will last forever, for 10 years, probably not even five years. Just as for flu, this will have to be redesigned quite regularly," said Belgian virologist Marc Van Ranst, adding that vaccine designers would not be surprised.

Dr David Strain, a clinical senior lecturer at the University of Exeter and chair of the British Medical Association's medical academic staff committee, said the cases were also worrying as it suggested that previous infection does not provide protection.

Vaccine funding and binding commitments needed

Some 172 countries are engaging with the Covax facility designed to ensure equitable access to Covid-19 vaccines, the World Health Organisation said on Monday, but more funding is needed and countries need now to make binding commitments.

Countries wishing to be part of the global Covax plan have until August 31 to submit expressions of interest, WHO officials said, with confirmation of intention to join due by Sept. 18, and initial payments due by Oct. 9.

"Vaccine nationalism only helps the virus," WHO director general Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus told a media briefing. "The success of the Covax facility hinges not only on countries signing up to it, but also filling key funding gaps." Covax currently covers nine candidate Covid-19 vaccines and its aim is to secure supplies of and deliver two billion doses across countries that sign up by the end of 2021.

Spike in US college cases

More US colleges were grappling with high numbers of students testing positive for the coronavirus just days into the start of the fall semester after some universities rolled back their campus reopening plans in recent weeks.

The University of Alabama on Monday reported more than 550 people across its campuses had tested positive for Covid-19 since it resumed in-person classes on August 19. Most of those infected were students, faculty and staff at the university's main campus in Tuscaloosa.

Citing a "dramatic increase" in coronavirus cases on campus, the mayor of Tuscaloosa issued an executive order on Monday ordering bars to shut down for 14 days and placing restrictions on other establishments.

Lessons from India's Silicon Valley

The early Covid-19 response in Bengaluru, dubbed India's Silicon Valley for its tech firms and startups, was lauded by India's government as a model, for its use of health surveys combined with efforts to tap tech expertise and cutting-edge software to analyse the spread of the disease.

But after India eased a nationwide lockdown in early June, officials say tens of thousands of travellers streamed in from Maharashtra and Tamil Nadu, many unwittingly bringing the virus.

The neighbouring states have been the two worst hit by Covid-19 in India. "We didn't look at the inbound travellers as a major source of infections," said one official involved in Bengaluru's response. "We never anticipated that many people would come."

Since late June, Bengaluru has been sealing areas where cases jump, said Hephsiba Rani Korlapati, a bureaucrat running the Bengaluru "war room", noting this involves placing barricades at entry and exit points – in effect quarantining entire neighbourhoods. "Aggressive testing of contacts and home isolation is the way to contain the spread," she said. "That is being taken very seriously and is being done right now."

Mercer, the investment consulting arm of US services company Marsh & McLennan, expects its wealth division to at least double its assets under management (AUM) in the Middle East as wealth in the region continues to grow despite economic headwinds, a company official said.

Mercer Wealth, which globally has $160 billion in AUM, plans to boost its AUM in the region to $2-$3bn in the next 2-3 years from the present $1bn, said Yasir AbuShaban, a Dubai-based principal with Mercer Wealth.

Within the next two to three years, we are looking at reaching $2 to $3 billion as a conservative estimate and we do see an opportunity to do so,” said Mr AbuShaban.

Mercer does not directly make investments, but allocates clients’ money they have discretion to, to professional asset managers. They also provide advice to clients.

“We have buying power. We can negotiate on their (client’s) behalf with asset managers to provide them lower fees than they otherwise would have to get on their own,” he added.

Mercer Wealth’s clients include sovereign wealth funds, family offices, and insurance companies among others.

From its office in Dubai, Mercer also looks after Africa, India and Turkey, where they also see opportunity for growth.

Wealth creation in Middle East and Africa (MEA) grew 8.5 per cent to $8.1 trillion last year from $7.5tn in 2015, higher than last year’s global average of 6 per cent and the second-highest growth in a region after Asia-Pacific which grew 9.9 per cent, according to consultancy Boston Consulting Group (BCG). In the region, where wealth grew just 1.9 per cent in 2015 compared with 2014, a pickup in oil prices has helped in wealth generation.

BCG is forecasting MEA wealth will rise to $12tn by 2021, growing at an annual average of 8 per cent.

Drivers of wealth generation in the region will be split evenly between new wealth creation and growth of performance of existing assets, according to BCG.

Another general trend in the region is clients’ looking for a comprehensive approach to investing, according to Mr AbuShaban.

“Institutional investors or some of the families are seeing a slowdown in the available capital they have to invest and in that sense they are looking at optimizing the way they manage their portfolios and making sure they are not investing haphazardly and different parts of their investment are working together,” said Mr AbuShaban.

Some clients also have a higher appetite for risk, given the low interest-rate environment that does not provide enough yield for some institutional investors. These clients are keen to invest in illiquid assets, such as private equity and infrastructure.

“What we have seen is a desire for higher returns in what has been a low-return environment specifically in various fixed income or bonds,” he said.

“In this environment, we have seen a de facto increase in the risk that clients are taking in things like illiquid investments, private equity investments, infrastructure and private debt, those kind of investments were higher illiquidity results in incrementally higher returns.”

The Abu Dhabi Investment Authority, one of the largest sovereign wealth funds, said in its 2016 report that has gradually increased its exposure in direct private equity and private credit transactions, mainly in Asian markets and especially in China and India. The authority’s private equity department focused on structured equities owing to “their defensive characteristics.”

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