66 more people die of coronavirus in the UK July 16, 2020 An additional 66 people have died of coronavirus in the UK, government officials confirmed, taking the total number of fatalities to 45,119. According to figures from the Department of Health, there have also been 642 new positive cases of the virus. That means 292,552 people have now tested positive for coronavirus in the UK. The new [...]
What are the long-term prospects for healthcare investing post Covid-19? July 16, 2020 | City Talk The pandemic has shone a spotlight on healthcare but what happens when a vaccine is found? We asked Schroders’ investment experts for their views on the sector’s long-term prospects. The Covid-19 crisis has hurt most economic sectors this year. As of 30 June, healthcare was one of only three sectors to post positive year-to-date returns [...]
English lockdown reduced Covid-19 rates more than thought, study finds July 15, 2020 The reproductive number of Covid-19 in England could have been lower than experts originally thought in May, suggesting that the lockdown was successful in driving down cases, according to the latest scientific research. The research indicated that infection rates fell during the last full month of lockdown before the Prime Minister began easing restrictions in [...]
Donald Trump hails vaccine progress after positive trial results July 15, 2020 A number of promising developments related to coronavirus vaccine developments announced today have met with the approval of US president Donald Trump. Using his favoured platform Twitter, Trump wrote: “Great News on Vaccines!” It is unclear exactly what the president was referring to, but the tweet followed the news that drug firm Moderna’s experimental vaccine [...]
Is the office an analogue product in a digital world? July 15, 2020 | City Talk Reports of the death of the office are premature, but change is coming as Covid-19 means more of us will work from home in the future. The Covid-19 pandemic has acted as a catalyst, accelerating a number of global trends. One of the most significant of these is working from home, a trend which is [...]
Moderna vaccine Phase 1 results show it induces immune response July 15, 2020 Moderna’s experimental vaccine for coronavirus showed it was safe and provoked immune responses in all 45 healthy volunteers in an ongoing early-stage study, US researchers reported on Tuesday. Volunteers who got two doses of the Moderna vaccine had high levels of virus-killing antibodies that exceeded the average levels seen in people who had recovered from [...]
JP Morgan sets aside $10.5bn to cover loan defaults due to coronavirus pandemic July 14, 2020 Investment bank JP Morgan Chase & Co has set aside $10.5bn (£8.38bn) of reserves to cover a potential surge of loan defaults due to the coronavirus pandemic as US cases of Covid-19 continued to rise. The bank increased its provision for credit losses by $9.3bn compared to the previous year reflecting the “deterioration and increased [...]
Thinking differently to build a better business July 14, 2020 | City Talk As lockdown eases and business life begins to return to some kind of normality, the challenge for mid-market finance directors is to reflect on the new ways of working, introduced to help overcome the virus and cope with lockdown, and build on them to work differently in the future to enhance finance operations, manage costs [...]
Finding the best way to incentivise management July 14, 2020 | City Talk With cash at a premium, businesses could be considering an award of shares to employees instead of bonuses. This could be a good way to incentivise key employees in the long term without utilising cash and perhaps a first step towards unlocking liquidity for owners through, for example, a management buy-out. However, with share values [...]
Coronavirus: Herefordshire farm locked down after 73 cases confirmed July 13, 2020 A farm in Herefordshire has been locked down after 73 of its workers tested positive for coronavirus, it was announced yesterday. Public Health England and Herefordshire council said that up to 200 employees at the farm had been asked to self-isolate due to the outbreak at vegetable producers AS Green and Co. Workers at the [...]