• Chelsea's Callum Hudson-Odoi in training after the Premier League announced players can return to training in small groups. He was the first Premier League player to test positive. Chelsea FC/Getty
    Chelsea's Callum Hudson-Odoi in training after the Premier League announced players can return to training in small groups. He was the first Premier League player to test positive. Chelsea FC/Getty
  • Chelsea's Callum Hudson-Odoi leaves the club's Cobham training ground. PA
    Chelsea's Callum Hudson-Odoi leaves the club's Cobham training ground. PA
  • N'Golo Kante . EPA
    N'Golo Kante . EPA
  • Andreas Christensen. EPA
    Andreas Christensen. EPA
  • Ross Barkley. PA
    Ross Barkley. PA
  • Tammy Abraham. EPA
    Tammy Abraham. EPA
  • Chelsea's Kepa Arrizabalaga leaves training. EPA
    Chelsea's Kepa Arrizabalaga leaves training. EPA
  • Billy Gilmour after the training session. EPA
    Billy Gilmour after the training session. EPA
  • Willy Caballero. EPA
    Willy Caballero. EPA
  • Chelsea's Marcos Alonso. EPA
    Chelsea's Marcos Alonso. EPA
  • Chelsea manager Frank Lampard leaves training. EPA
    Chelsea manager Frank Lampard leaves training. EPA
  • Chelsea's Willian after training. EPA
    Chelsea's Willian after training. EPA
  • Chelsea's Mason Mount. EPA
    Chelsea's Mason Mount. EPA
  • Reece James leaves training. EPA
    Reece James leaves training. EPA
  • Chelsea's Ruben Loftus-Cheek. EPA
    Chelsea's Ruben Loftus-Cheek. EPA
  • Chelsea's Pedro leaves training. EPA
    Chelsea's Pedro leaves training. EPA
  • Chelsea's Olivier Giroud leaves training. EPA
    Chelsea's Olivier Giroud leaves training. EPA

Football

Premier League find two more positive coronavirus tests, taking total to eight

A total of 748 tests of players and club staff made up the initial round of testing on May 17-18

The National

May 24, 2020

  • English
  • Arabic

Two more people from two separate clubs have returned positive tests for the coronavirus, the Premier League said on Saturday, taking the total to eight since the league began testing players and staff.

"The Premier League can today confirm that on Tuesday 19 May, Thursday 21 May and Friday 22 May, 996 players and club staff were tested for Covid-19. Of these, two have tested positive from two clubs," the statement said.

"The Premier League is providing this aggregated information for the purposes of competition integrity and transparency. Players or club staff who have tested positive will now self-isolate for a period of seven days."

Bournemouth later announced one of their players has tested positive for coronavirus.

A total of 748 tests of players and club staff made up the initial round of testing on May 17-18. Watford's Adrian Mariappa and two members of the club's non-playing staff and Burnley assistant manager Ian Woan were among six positive tests.

They are all still in their seven-day isolation period.

Two other Watford players are also self-isolating after coming into close contact with people who tested positive, according to manager Nigel Pearson.

No matches have been played in the Premier League since March, but the government has given the green light for elite sport to resume from June 1, including the top-flight football.

The Premier League's "Project Restart" hopes to resume action in June, although no date has been fixed.

Another round of tests are scheduled to take place on Monday and Tuesday. All 20 clubs will hold a meeting on Wednesday to decide whether they can move to phase two of the restart and allow full-contact training.

Chief executive Richard Masters said on Friday the Premier League is "as confident as we can be" about a resumption of the top flight and that the remaining 92 games would be completed.

"We wouldn't have taken the first step to get back to training if we weren't convinced we had created a very safe environment for our players," he said.

Britain's death toll from the coronavirus pandemic is the highest in Europe with an official figure of 36,675 as of Saturday.

Germany's Bundesliga returned to action last week with matches in empty stadiums and strict safety protocols.

Spain's government on Saturday gave the go-ahead for La Liga to resume from June 8.

Who's who in Yemen conflict

Houthis: Iran-backed rebels who occupy Sanaa and run unrecognised government

Yemeni government: Exiled government in Aden led by eight-member Presidential Leadership Council

Southern Transitional Council: Faction in Yemeni government that seeks autonomy for the south

Habrish 'rebels': Tribal-backed forces feuding with STC over control of oil in government territory

'Champions'

Director: Manuel Calvo
Stars: Yassir Al Saggaf and Fatima Al Banawi
Rating: 2/5
 

The other virus: bigotry

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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Total eligible population

About 57.5 million people
51.1 million received a jab
6.4 million have not

Where are the unvaccinated?

England 11%
Scotland 9%
Wales 10%
Northern Ireland 14% 

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