The number of people infected with coronavirus in the UK has increased by about a million in the space of a week, official figures show.
The increase is being driven by the Omicron BA2 sub-variant of the virus, according to government statisticians who say infections are at near-record levels.
Hospital admissions are also rising but are below the January Omicron peak and far below the levels reached among the largely unvaccinated population of early 2021.
Modelling by the Office for National Statistics (ONS) suggested cases were currently highest among very young children, with about one in 12 people of junior school age estimated to be positive.
Across the country, about 4.3 million people were estimated to have Covid-19 in the latest weekly survey by the ONS, up from 3.3 million a week earlier.
The infection rate was especially high in Scotland, where about one in 11 people were thought to be infected compared with one in 16 in England and similar rates in Wales and Northern Ireland.
The official estimates suggested cas numberes were rising in all regions of England and were especially high in the south and east.
England ended all domestic restrictions on February 24 and last week lifted its last remaining curbs on international travel. Case numbers are also rising in some countries in continental Europe, including Italy and France.
Chief medical officer Prof Sir Chris Whitty said this week that hospital admissions were likely to rise but that high rates of transmission were not translating into surges in intensive care treatment or deaths.
About 86 per cent of over-12s are fully vaccinated in Britain and 67 per cent have received a booster shot. The National Health Service this week started inviting older and vulnerable people for a fourth dose.
Prime Minister Boris Johnson on Wednesday held a moment's silence to mark two years since the first national lockdown in Britain. About 164,000 people have died after testing positive for the virus.
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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