DUBAI // Pregnant women or those trying to conceive have been advised not to travel to areas infected by the Zika virus, as updates to the world map of affected zones were released at the Arab Health Congress.
“The situation has changed, as we can see from the new map from the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control, which was updated 10 days ago,” said Dr Andrzej Szefler, a family medicine consultant at Johns Hopkins Aramco Healthcare in Dhahran, Saudi Arabia.
“The situation in the West is the same, and in Central and South America, with some outbreaks in Africa. But if you look at South-East Asia, it has changed.
“There is new transmission in Thailand and Malaysia, and many cases in Singapore, Philippines and Indonesia.
“If someone who was starting a family or was pregnant asked me now, I would advise them not to go there.”
About 40 Zika vaccines are being worked on but none of these are expected to reach the market for up to three years. Until then, women are being advised against travel to the affected countries.
Zika is passed on by mosquitoes and can be transferred through eggs lying dormant in stagnant water.
In 2013 to 2014, there were more than 30,000 suspected cases reported from French Polynesia, and there was an outbreak on Easter Island, Chile, before the first case was reported in Brazil in 2015.
Health experts believe the virus most probably spread to the Americas during the 2014 football World Cup in Brazil.
The 2014 canoeing world championships in Rio de Janeiro, and Catholic World Youth Day and papal visit to Brazil in July 2013 are also suspected of helping to transmit the virus.
The incubation period for Zika is two to 14 days. The most common symptoms are a rash, conjunctivitis and headaches, but only 20 per cent of those infected show symptoms.
Those showing symptoms who have travelled to infected areas can be tested and unborn babies can be checked by ultrasound.
Zika is known to be a cause of microcephaly, where babies are born with abnormally small heads.
nwebster@thenational.ae
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How to play the stock market recovery in 2021?
If you are looking to build your long-term wealth in 2021 and beyond, the stock market is still the best place to do it as equities powered on despite the pandemic.
Investing in individual stocks is not for everyone and most private investors should stick to mutual funds and ETFs, but there are some thrilling opportunities for those who understand the risks.
Peter Garnry, head of equity strategy at Saxo Bank, says the 20 best-performing US and European stocks have delivered an average return year-to-date of 148 per cent, measured in local currency terms.
Online marketplace Etsy was the best performer with a return of 330.6 per cent, followed by communications software company Sinch (315.4 per cent), online supermarket HelloFresh (232.8 per cent) and fuel cells specialist NEL (191.7 per cent).
Mr Garnry says digital companies benefited from the lockdown, while green energy firms flew as efforts to combat climate change were ramped up, helped in part by the European Union’s green deal.
Electric car company Tesla would be on the list if it had been part of the S&P 500 Index, but it only joined on December 21. “Tesla has become one of the most valuable companies in the world this year as demand for electric vehicles has grown dramatically,” Mr Garnry says.
By contrast, the 20 worst-performing European stocks fell 54 per cent on average, with European banks hit by the economic fallout from the pandemic, while cruise liners and airline stocks suffered due to travel restrictions.
As demand for energy fell, the oil and gas industry had a tough year, too.
Mr Garnry says the biggest story this year was the “absolute crunch” in so-called value stocks, companies that trade at low valuations compared to their earnings and growth potential.
He says they are “heavily tilted towards financials, miners, energy, utilities and industrials, which have all been hit hard by the Covid-19 pandemic”. “The last year saw these cheap stocks become cheaper and expensive stocks have become more expensive.”
This has triggered excited talk about the “great value rotation” but Mr Garnry remains sceptical. “We need to see a breakout of interest rates combined with higher inflation before we join the crowd.”
Always remember that past performance is not a guarantee of future returns. Last year’s winners often turn out to be this year’s losers, and vice-versa.
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