Australia will stick to its lockdown strategy to tackle Covid-19 until at least 70 per cent of its population has been fully vaccinated.
After that, it will have to start living with the virus, the country’s prime minister, Scott Morrison, said on Sunday, when the record daily figure of 914 new infections was reported.
“You can’t live with lockdowns for ever, and at some point you need to make that gear change, and that is done at 70 per cent,” Mr Morrison told the Australian broadcaster ABC.
The southern and eastern states of New South Wales, Victoria and Australian Capital Territory remained under lockdown.
Such measures are a central element of the federal government’s strategy to rein in outbreaks until the 70 per cent vaccination level is reached. Borders will reopen in stages when the figure climbs to 80 per cent.
But, in a departure from the zero-Covid strategy adopted earlier in the pandemic, Mr Morrison said it was highly unlikely that Australia would eliminate cases before the curbs could be eased.
“Lockdowns are not a sustainable way to deal with the virus and that’s why we have to get to the 70 per cent and 80 per cent marks, so we can start living with the virus,” he said.
About 60 per cent of the population of 25 million is now under lockdown. Stay-at-home orders, often lasting for months, have tested the patience of many.
Hundreds arrested at anti-lockdown protests
A worsening outbreak in Victoria, the state that includes Melbourne, led stay-at-home orders to be expanded to the entire state.
But Melbourne’s public health orders did not deter thousands from venting anger in a march against the lockdown rules, and police used pepper spray in violent clashes with protesters.
Seven officers were injured and more than 200 people were arrested, Victoria Police said in a statement on the demonstration, which it called “violent and unlawful”.
“While there were some peaceful protesters in attendance, the majority of those who attended came with violence in mind,” they said.
In Sydney, more than 1,500 police officers flooded the city. They set up roadblocks and made dozens of arrests when about 250 people gathered there, NSW Police said.
NSW Police handed out 940 fines in the past 24 hours for breaches of public health orders.
Large crowds were also reported at an anti-lockdown rally in Brisbane, Queensland, while several hundred people gathered to protest at the state’s border on Sunday, local media reported.
New South Wales reported 830 new infections on Sunday, despite the enhanced efforts. The Australian Capital Territory, home to the capital, Canberra, had 19. Nationwide, the tally of active cases stands at about 12,000.
The south-eastern state of Victoria, in its sixth lockdown since the start of the pandemic, recorded 65 locally acquired cases on Sunday.
“We are throwing everything at this,” said Martin Foley, the state’s health minister.
About 30 per cent of Australians aged 16 and older have been fully vaccinated, health ministry data showed on Saturday. The Pfizer-BioNTech shot is in short supply and the AstraZeneca vaccine provokes public unease.
Despite a third wave of infections from the Delta variant, Australia’s Covid-19 numbers are relatively low, with about 44,000 cases and 981 deaths reported to date.
If you go
The flights
There are direct flights from Dubai to Sofia with FlyDubai (www.flydubai.com) and Wizz Air (www.wizzair.com), from Dh1,164 and Dh822 return including taxes, respectively.
The trip
Plovdiv is 150km from Sofia, with an hourly bus service taking around 2 hours and costing $16 (Dh58). The Rhodopes can be reached from Sofia in between 2-4hours.
The trip was organised by Bulguides (www.bulguides.com), which organises guided trips throughout Bulgaria. Guiding, accommodation, food and transfers from Plovdiv to the mountains and back costs around 170 USD for a four-day, three-night trip.
RESULT
Shabab Al Ahli Dubai 0 Al Ain 6
Al Ain: Caio (5', 73'), El Shahat (10'), Berg (65'), Khalil (83'), Al Ahbabi (90' 2)
Mubalada World Tennis Championship 2018 schedule
Thursday December 27
Men's quarter-finals
Kevin Anderson v Hyeon Chung 4pm
Dominic Thiem v Karen Khachanov 6pm
Women's exhibition
Serena Williams v Venus Williams 8pm
Friday December 28
5th place play-off 3pm
Men's semi-finals
Rafael Nadal v Anderson/Chung 5pm
Novak Djokovic v Thiem/Khachanov 7pm
Saturday December 29
3rd place play-off 5pm
Men's final 7pm
LAST-16 EUROPA LEAGUE FIXTURES
Wednesday (Kick-offs UAE)
FC Copenhagen (0) v Istanbul Basaksehir (1) 8.55pm
Shakhtar Donetsk (2) v Wolfsburg (1) 8.55pm
Inter Milan v Getafe (one leg only) 11pm
Manchester United (5) v LASK (0) 11pm
Thursday
Bayer Leverkusen (3) v Rangers (1) 8.55pm
Sevilla v Roma (one leg only) 8.55pm
FC Basel (3) v Eintracht Frankfurt (0) 11pm
Wolves (1) Olympiakos (1) 11pm
MATCH INFO
Schalke 0
Werder Bremen 1 (Bittencourt 32')
Man of the match Leonardo Bittencourt (Werder Bremen)
WHAT ARE NFTs?
Non-fungible tokens (NFTs) are tokens that represent ownership of unique items. They allow the tokenisation of things such as art, collectibles and even real estate.
An NFT can have only one official owner at one time. And since they're minted and secured on the Ethereum blockchain, no one can modify the record of ownership, not even copy-paste it into a new one.
This means NFTs are not interchangeable and cannot be exchanged with other items. In contrast, fungible items, such as fiat currencies, can be exchanged because their value defines them rather than their unique properties.
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.”
MATCH INFO
Newcastle 2-2 Manchester City
Burnley 0-2 Crystal Palace
Chelsea 0-1 West Ham
Liverpool 2-1 Brighton
Tottenham 3-2 Bournemouth
Southampton v Watford (late)
Wicked: For Good
Director: Jon M Chu
Starring: Ariana Grande, Cynthia Erivo, Jonathan Bailey, Jeff Goldblum, Michelle Yeoh, Ethan Slater
Rating: 4/5