Live updates: follow the latest news on Covid-19 variant Omicron
US Defence Secretary Lloyd Austin announced on Sunday that he has tested positive for Covid-19.
Mr Austin said he is suffering mild symptoms and will attend meetings online as he quarantines at home for the next five days.
News of his positive test comes after the Pentagon last week tightened restrictions at its headquarters over concern about the highly transmissible Omicron variant that has led to a sharp increase in Covid-19 infections throughout the world.
The military is faced with the challenge of maintaining troop preparedness, often in close quarters on ships and planes.
Mr Austin, who is fully vaccinated and received a booster in early October, said he last met President Joe Biden on December 21, more than a week before he started experiencing symptoms.
“As my doctor made clear to me, my fully vaccinated status — and the booster I received in early October — have rendered the infection much more mild than it would otherwise have been,” he said.
Mr Austin said he requested a test earlier on Sunday after feeling symptoms while at home on holiday. He was last at the Pentagon on Thursday.
The defence secretary is one of the most senior members of Mr Biden's administration to test positive for Covid-19.
In October, Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas tested positive for the virus.
Death toll rises
US authorities registered at least 346,869 new coronavirus cases on Saturday, with the death toll rising by at least 377 to 828,562, according to a Reuters tally.
Mr Austin said he would retain all authority in running the Defence Department and overseeing military activities around the world.
His deputy, Kathleen Hicks, would represent him in some matters, he said.
“I continue to encourage everyone eligible for a booster shot to get one. This remains a readiness issue,” Mr Austin said.
Roughly 98 per cent of active-duty troops have received at the Covid-19 vaccine, which is now mandatory for them.
Top US infectious disease expert Dr Anthony Fauci said on Sunday there was still a danger of a surge in admissions to hospital due to a large number of coronavirus cases even as early data suggests the Omicron variant is less severe than other mutations.
Omicron was estimated to account for 58.6 per cent of the coronavirus variants circulating in the US as of December 25, data from the US Centres for Disease Control and Prevention shows.
Dr Fauci said the CDC will soon announce a clarification on whether people with Covid-19 should test negative before they can leave isolation, after confusion last week over guidance that would let people leave after five days without symptoms.
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
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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TRAP
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Director: M Night Shyamalan
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Killing of Qassem Suleimani
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Key facilities
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The years Ramadan fell in May
It Was Just an Accident
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