Tag Archives: World economy

Medical personnel is given the Pfizer-Biontech Covid-19 corona virus vaccine at the Favoriten Clinic in Vienna, Austria, on December 27, 2020 on the occasion of the Pfizer-BioNTech Covid-19 corona virus vaccine rollout. Georg Hochmuth | AFP | Getty Images The U.K.’s decision to delay giving people the second dose of …

A patient with the Covid-19 breaths in oxygen in the Covid-19 ward at Khayelitsha Hospital, about 35km from the centre of Cape Town, on December 29, 2020. RODGER BOSCH | AFP | Getty Images A variant of the coronavirus identified in South Africa is more problematic than the strain found …

A security man administers sanitiser to a visitor to a state hospital in Lagos, on February 28, 2020. PIUS UTOMI EKPEI | AFP via Getty Images The coronavirus pandemic has sharpened the lens on a substantial health-care spending gap in Africa’s largest economy, and international investors are seeking to fill …

UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson poses for a photograph with a vial of the AstraZeneca/Oxford University Covid-19 candidate vaccine. WPA Pool | Getty Images News | Getty Images LONDON — The U.K. has started rolling out the coronavirus vaccine developed by AstraZeneca and the University of Oxford, marking another step …

Two men paint graffiti of frontline workers on a wall during the coronavirus pandemic in Mumbai, India. Imtiyaz Shaikh | Anadolu Agency | Getty Images SINGAPORE — The Covid-19 pandemic has sent the global economy into one of its worst recessions ever, and it isn’t yet clear when a full …

A visitor tries a plant-based meat substitute product at the Restaurant & Bar and Gourmet Asia expo at the Hong Kong Convention and Exhibition centre in Hong Kong on November 11, 2020. Peter Parks | AFP | Getty Images SINGAPORE — Demand for meat alternatives has grown and will continue …

Snow falls as people wearing face masks walk through the Asakusa district on March 29, 2020 in Tokyo, Japan. Tomohiro Ohsumi | Getty Images SINGAPORE — As 2020 draws to a close, many investors consider Asia as the region with one of the best economic prospects next year thanks to …

For people staying safely at home this holiday season, new virtual tours let anyone with an internet connection tour famous Christmas destinations around the world.    Homebound travelers can book live interactive tours with local guides to learn about everything from the religious sites of Jerusalem to the department store …

A picture taken on December 4, 2020 shows the production of Russia’s Gam-COVID-Vac vaccine against the coronavirus. OLGA MALTSEVA | AFP | Getty Images LONDON — Cooperation between vaccine makers will increase in 2021, according to the head of Russia’s sovereign wealth fund, who welcomed the recent announcement of a …

SINGAPORE — The rollout of Covid-19 vaccines in Singapore will help the economy to recover — but will not take it back to what it was before the pandemic, the country’s Minister for Foreign Affairs Vivian Balakrishnan said on Thursday. “I think we should talk about a new normal. So …

A general view of the cafes at the empty Leidseplein square on March 27, 2020 in Amsterdam, Netherlands NurPhoto | NurPhoto | Getty Images LONDON — Business activity in the euro zone is having a fairly robust December, according to the latest preliminary purchasing manager’s index (PMI) data for the …

People wearing face masks cross Oxford Circus in London, England, on October 16, 2020. NurPhoto | NurPhoto | Getty Images LONDON — The U.K.’s capital city is about to move into the country’s highest level of coronavirus restrictions as cases continue to surge ahead of the holiday period. On Monday, …

A view of East London from an aerial view. As the sun sets its glow is captured on the skyscrapers of Canary Wharf – the second business district of London. Ray Wise | Moment | Getty Images Opportunity abounds for investors looking to seize on distressed real estate assets in …

Shoppers were faced with partially empty shelves at a supermarket in London on March 14, 2020 when the coronavirus outbreak led to stockpiling. JUSTIN TALLIS | AFP | Getty Images British grocery stores are stockpiling food amid the possibility of a no-deal scenario as Brexit trade deal negotiations between the …

The JP Morgan Chase & Co. headquarters, The JP Morgan Chase Tower in Park Avenue, Midtown, Manhattan, New York. Tim Clayton – Corbis | Corbis Sport | Getty Images SINGAPORE — While there’s “nothing new” to sustainable investing, technology has made it easier to state the financial case for considering …

Deputy charge nurse Katie McIntosh administers the first of two Pfizer/BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine jabs, to Vivien McKay Clinical Nurse Manager at the Western General Hospital, on the first day of the largest immunisation programme in the British history, in Edinburgh, Scotland Britain December 8, 2020. Andrew Milligan | Reuters LONDON …

Margaret Keenan, 90, is applauded by staff as she returns to her ward after becoming first patient in Britain to receive the Pfizer/BioNtech COVID-19 vaccine at University Hospital, at the start of the largest ever immunisation programme in the British history, in Coventry, Britain December 8, 2020. Jacob King | …

Healthcare workers transfer a COVID-19 patient in a biocontainment stretcher at the Covid emergency room of San Filippo Neri Hospital during the lockdown measures to contain the spread of the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic, on October 29, 2020 in Rome, Italy. Antonio Masiello | Getty Images Italy became Europe’s first coronavirus …

Bill Gates, founder of Microsoft and the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. Lintao Zhang | Getty Images News | Getty Images SINGAPORE — Bill Gates has predicted there could be as many as half a dozen Covid-19 vaccines approved and ready for distribution by the spring of 2021, as medical …

Nurses at the Royal Free Hospital, London, simulate the administration of the Pfizer vaccine to support staff training ahead of the rollout, on December 5, 2020 in London, England. WPA Pool | Getty Images News | Getty Images The U.K. is preparing to administer the first Covid-19 vaccines to the …

A nurse prepares to administer a flu vaccination to a man. NurPhoto | NurPhoto | Getty Images The U.K. was the first country in the world to approve Pfizer and BioNTech’s groundbreaking coronavirus vaccine on Wednesday for widespread use. In a way, that was the easy part. Now, it has …

A health worker wearing a protective mask works in a lab during clinical trials for a Covid-19 vaccine at Research Centers of America in Hollywood, Florida, U.S. Eva Marie Uzcategui | Bloomberg | Getty Images LONDON — The U.K.’s decision to grant emergency approval to Pfizer and BioNTech’s coronavirus vaccine …

A healthcare worker performs laboratory tests. Sergei Karpukhin | TASS | Getty Images Roche received emergency use authorization (EUA) from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration for a new test that measures coronavirus antibodies within the blood. The Swiss diagnostics and pharmaceutical giant said Wednesday that the test, called “Elecsys …

A closed departure hall at Hong Kong International Airport terminal. Miguel Candela | SOPA Images | LightRocket via Getty Images SINGAPORE — Singapore and Hong Kong have delayed the start of their bilateral “travel bubble” again — deferring the plan beyond 2020, authorities from both cities said on Tuesday. The …

Traders work the floor of the New York Stock Exchange. NYSE LONDON — Deutsche Bank upgraded its global growth outlook for 2021 but cautioned that two key risks could still spoil the economic recovery from the coronavirus crisis. In the bank’s latest report out Wednesday — entitled “Hope on the …

SINGAPORE — Top Glove, the world’s largest medical glove maker, has shut 20 manufacturing sites in Malaysia after thousands of workers tested positive for Covid-19. A total of 2,684 Top Glove employees — most of them foreign workers — have tested positive as of Wednesday, local media reported, citing Malaysia’s …

Children look at a window display at store on Regent Street in London. Hollie Adams | Getty Images News | Getty Images LONDON — There’s one thing that most people are agreed upon as the festive season approaches and the coronavirus pandemic continues: Christmas is not going to feel the …

A sign on the entrance to a pharmacy reads “Covid-19 Vaccine Not Yet Available” in Burbank, California on Nov. 23, 2020. Robyn Beck | AFP | Getty Images SINGAPORE — With several Covid-19 vaccine candidates showing promising trial outcomes, investors and analysts have turned increasingly optimistic that the pandemic could …

People with face masks walk in the city center of Cologne, Germany, on November 21, 2020. NurPhoto | NurPhoto | Getty Images Germany could be preparing to extend its current lockdown into December as the number of coronavirus infections remains high across the country. Yet Berlin is hopeful a coronavirus …

SINGAPORE — Hong Kong is hopeful its next “air travel bubble” could be with mainland China, the executive director of the city’s tourism board has said. Dane Cheng told CNBC such plans would hinge on the success of the forthcoming Hong Kong-Singapore travel corridor. But he noted that adding a …

A pedestrian wearing a face mask or covering due to the Covid-19 pandemic takes a photograph of Christmas trees in Covent Garden in central London on November 17, 2020. TOLGA AKMEN | AFP | Getty Images LONDON — Scientists and governments are pondering how and whether families should get together …

A health care worker injects the a syringe of the phase 3 vaccine trial, to a volunteer at the Ankara University Ibni Sina Hospital in Ankara, Turkey on October 27, 2020. This vaccine candidate developed against the novel coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic by the U.S. Pfizer and German BioNTech company. Dougkan …

A blood sample is prepared for analysis by a laboratory technician at Accel Research Sites on August 4, 2020 in DeLand, Florida, U.S. NurPhoto | NurPhoto | Getty Images Moderna‘s announcement earlier this week that its vaccine was more than 94% effective at preventing the coronavirus, according to preliminary trial …

SINGAPORE — The world will be watching closely to see if the quarantine-free travel bubble between Singapore and Hong Kong will succeed, according to one of the region’s major travel operators Klook. “All eyes are on this bubble, making sure that it’s going to get pulled off,” Eric Gnock Fah, …

Mouthwash. (Photo By BSIP/UIG Via Getty Images) BSIP | Universal Images Group | Getty Images Commonly-used mouthwashes are able to kill the coronavirus within 30 seconds of exposure in laboratory conditions, a new study from scientists in the U.K. has found. The study from Cardiff University, which has not yet …

An Airbus A380-800 jet airliner operated by Etihad Airways, on display at the Dubai Airshow 2017 international aerospace event.  Marina Lystseva | TASS | Getty Images Etihad Airways is set to launch daily scheduled flights to Tel Aviv, in another sign that Emirati business is actively tapping Israeli markets for …

An Airbus A380-800 passenger plane of the Emirates Airlines at Moscow’s Domodedovo Airport. Mikhail Tereshchenko | TASS | Getty Images Emirates is working with global pharmaceutical companies, including Pfizer, to address the logistical challenges of distributing coronavirus vaccines, according to Emirates President Tim Clark. “The industry is trying to establish …

With cases of the coronavirus disease still surging in the West, countries in Europe and North America have a “really clear” need for a vaccine, a medical expert said on Friday. Several European countries — including France, Germany and the U.K. — have had to reinstate lockdown measures to stem …

A woman and her dog leave Red Square in downtown Moscow on September 24, 2020. YURI KADOBNOV | AFP | Getty Images U.S.-Russia relations are at a low point, according to the head of Russia’s sovereign wealth fund, who told CNBC that Moscow was willing to work with the next …

A heath worker injects the ‘Gam-COVID-Vac’, also known as ‘Sputnik V’, Covid-19 vaccine, developed by the Gamaleya National Research Center for Epidemiology and Microbiology and the Russian Direct Investment Fund (RDIF), into a patients arm during a post-registration phase trial at the City Clinic #46 in Moscow, Russia, on Wednesday, …

A health care worker holds an injection syringe of the phase 3 vaccine trial, developed against the novel coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic by the U.S. Pfizer and German BioNTech company, at the Ankara University Ibni Sina Hospital in Ankara, Turkey on October 27, 2020. Dogukan Keskinkilic | Anadolu Agency | Getty …

A pedestrian wearing a protective face mask walks by a going out of business sign displayed outside a retail store in New York City. Noam Galai | Getty Images A Covid-19 vaccine will not result in an “instant stimulus” to the U.S. economy, which still needs greater fiscal support as …

Despite rising Covid-19 infections throughout the United States, Europe and beyond, people are preparing to travel in late 2020. According to a survey by travel booking app Hopper, 39% of Americans are expected to travel during the upcoming holiday season. By that estimate, nearly 130 million people will be hitting …

A Boeing 777-312(ER) passenger plane belonging to the Singapore Airlines lands at Hong Kong International Airport on August 01 2018 in Hong Kong, Hong Kong. S3studio | Getty Images News | Getty Images SINGAPORE — Quarantine-free leisure travel between Hong Kong and Singapore will resume on Nov. 22, according to …

Technology trends driven by the coronavirus pandemic — such as the shift to remote working — will continue after a vaccine becomes available, according to the former boss of IBM. Ginni Rometty, who serves as IBM’s executive chairman after stepping down from the CEO role this year, predicted that digital …

A screen shows Russia’s President Vladimir Putin during the 15th annual end-of-year news conference at the World Trade Centre in Moscow. Valery Sharifulin President Vladimir Putin said Tuesday that Russia is about to register its third vaccine against the coronavirus, according to Russian news agencies. Putin also said “all” Russian …