India has begun randomly testing international passengers arriving at its airports for Covid-19, citing an increase in cases in neighbouring China.
The new policy was announced in Parliament on Thursday by Health Minister Mansukh Mandaviya, who said the government might make testing mandatory for all international arrivals if necessary, but had no plans yet to ban flights from countries where new cases are being reported.
India has so four confirmed four cases of the BF.7 sub-variant of Omicron — widely reported in China's capital Beijing and detected in a number of countries — three in the western state of Gujarat and one Odisha in the east.
BF.7 has a high transmissibility. One carrier can infect up to 10 people, experts say. It also has a short incubation period.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi's government has already stepped up measures to track new strains and briefed states to test all samples from patients found to have Covid-19.
Mr Modi convened a high-level meeting on Thursday to review the Covid situation and ordered states to ensure health facilities had adequate infrastructure, staffing and supplies of oxygen and ventilators.
He also called for people to take precautions such as wearing masks, and for booster doses of vaccine for the elderly and other vulnerable groups.
India relaxed its mask-wearing rules this month, as infections ebbed following huge vaccination drives and herd immunity, but a renewed global outbreak, particularly in China, has reignited concerns in the country.
India suffered from massive waves of Covid-19 following the outbreak of the pandemic in 2019, which killed at least 530,000 people and infected about 44 million in the world's second most populous nation.
As many as 185 new coronavirus infections were reported on Thursday, although active cases have fallen to 3,402, the Health Ministry reported.
The health department in Maharashtra, one of the worst-hit states during the peak of the pandemic, has asked the municipal and district authorities to increase Covid-19 testing.
Some opposition politicians have also demanded that indirect flights from China are stopped.
Although direct routes have been closed between the two countries since the pandemic's outbreak, there are connecting flights from Sri Lanka, Nepal and Myanmar.
Global worries
Cases have globally remained stable at 3.3 million in a week but China has been battling a fresh wave of the pandemic triggered by the BF.7 variant since it ended nearly three years of lockdown earlier this month.
On Thursday it reported nearly 6,000 cases over the previous 24 hours.
Unverified images on social media and television channels showed hospitals flooded with patients, some lying on the floor, and workers in Hazmat suits at crematoriums that are reportedly overwhelmed with an influx of bodies.
Chinese authorities, however, earlier this week said only those people confirmed to have died of respiratory failure caused by the virus would now be counted under Covid-19 death statistics.
Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, chief of the World Health Organisation, on Wednesday said he was “very concerned” about an unprecedented wave of the pandemic in China.
The global health body has urged Beijing to accelerate vaccination of the most vulnerable and has appealed for detailed information on disease severity, hospital admissions and intensive care requirements.
The US, South Korea and Brazil have also recorded a surge in cases in recent weeks, causing global concern.
Japan has seen a sharp rise, too. It recorded 200,000 cases in the last 24 hours, although health authorities said the spike there was driven by the B.A5 sub-variant of Omicron.
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.”
Key facilities
- Olympic-size swimming pool with a split bulkhead for multi-use configurations, including water polo and 50m/25m training lanes
- Premier League-standard football pitch
- 400m Olympic running track
- NBA-spec basketball court with auditorium
- 600-seat auditorium
- Spaces for historical and cultural exploration
- An elevated football field that doubles as a helipad
- Specialist robotics and science laboratories
- AR and VR-enabled learning centres
- Disruption Lab and Research Centre for developing entrepreneurial skills
RESULTS
5pm: Wathba Stallions Cup – Maiden (PA) Dh70,000 (Dirt) 1,400m
Winner: Yas Xmnsor, Sean Kirrane (jockey), Khalifa Al Neyadi (trainer)
5.30pm: Falaj Hazza – Handicap (PA) Dh70,000 (D) 1,600m
Winner: Arim W’Rsan, Dane O’Neill, Jaci Wickham
6pm: Al Basrah – Maiden (PA) Dh70,000 (D) 1,800m
Winner: Kalifano De Ghazal, Abdul Aziz Al Balushi, Helal Al Alawi
6.30pm: Oud Al Touba – Handicap (PA) Dh70,000 (D) 1,800m
Winner: Pharitz Oubai, Sean Kirrane, Ibrahim Al Hadhrami
7pm: Sieh bin Amaar – Conditions (PA) Dh80,000 (D) 1,800m
Winner: Oxord, Richard Mullen, Abdalla Al Hammadi
7.30pm: Jebel Hafeet – Conditions (PA) Dh85,000 (D) 2,000m
Winner: AF Ramz, Sean Kirrane, Khalifa Al Neyadi
8pm: Al Saad – Handicap (TB) Dh70,000 (D) 2,000m
Winner: Sea Skimmer, Gabriele Malune, Kareem Ramadan
AUSTRALIA%20SQUAD
%3Cp%3EPat%20Cummins%20(capt)%2C%20Scott%20Boland%2C%20Alex%20Carey%2C%20Cameron%20Green%2C%20Marcus%20Harris%2C%20Josh%20Hazlewood%2C%20Travis%20Head%2C%20Josh%20Inglis%2C%20Usman%20Khawaja%2C%20Marnus%20Labuschagne%2C%20Nathan%20Lyon%2C%20Mitchell%20Marsh%2C%20Todd%20Murphy%2C%20Matthew%20Renshaw%2C%20Steve%20Smith%2C%20Mitchell%20Starc%2C%20David%20Warner%3C%2Fp%3E%0A
Desert Warrior
Starring: Anthony Mackie, Aiysha Hart, Ben Kingsley
Director: Rupert Wyatt
Rating: 3/5
Countries recognising Palestine
France, UK, Canada, Australia, Portugal, Belgium, Malta, Luxembourg, San Marino and Andorra
More on Quran memorisation:
HEADLINE HERE
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