Covid-19 has claimed 3.2 million lives globally, although a report last week said that the loss could be double that figure.
Given such a grim scenario, countries are likely to have travel restrictions in place for the foreseeable future. But for how long those stay in place will depend also on how soon the world is vaccinated. Until then, disruptions in travel schedules could be routine. There is a heavy toll on affected people around the world.
The UK's announcement of its traffic travel light system will, for instance, affect the sizeable number of British overseas citizens who live and work overseas. Britons living in the UAE, and residents of the UAE with significant ties to the UK are among those affected.
Families have not seen each other in months. Children have not hugged their grandparents. There is no doubt that lockdowns have been universally tough. And it is only human to feel dejected at restrictive travel policies. But given that the UAE has the second-fastest vaccination rate – more than 11 million Covid-19 vaccine doses administered – the impediments to visit the UK, as Mansoor Abulhoul, the ambassador of the UAE to the UK, said, "are disappointing".
For countries at large to emerge from such impositions is not going to be easy. The virus is still mutating, still causing untold misery. India is breaking records of infection cases – in one day, 4,187 people have died. As epidemiologists and authorities have repeatedly said, no one is safe till everyone is. We are seeing the propensity of the virus to mutate and reach every corner of the world. The Indian strain, "a variant of concern", has now reached the UK.
The long-term solution to ending the pandemic, as has been said before in these pages, is a strong and persistent push for universal vaccination, in every country, rich or poor. The way to gradually ease out of these extended periods of disruption and uncertainty is to manufacture more vaccines. The world needs multiple times more than what is right now available. It cannot be the case that only the privileged in the richest countries get the jab. The cost of allowing developing nations to lag behind is unacceptable.
To this end, expanding access to vaccines, the World Health Organisation approved Sinopharm for emergency use, making it the sixth vaccine to receive WHO validation – the first non-western one to get the green light. This is a big boost for inoculation efforts across the world. Such timely permissions are especially needed to combat the spread of the mutating virus.
To curb death tolls of second and third waves of Covid-19, vaccines need to be not just available, but also abundantly so, in order to minimise the gap between demand and supply.
Easier to store, the Sinopharm vaccine is set to be added to the Covax programme – through which vaccines reach poorer countries. This is a step in the right direction.
Mass global inoculations will make travel easier. They could enable the proliferation of workarounds such as vaccine passports and safe air corridors.
Constant Covid-19 vigilance, however, will still be key for a long time to come. Even in a country with a successful vaccine roll-out such as the UK, where the economy is now opening up, travel policies have had to be closely monitored to make sure the virus spread is contained and lives spared.
When contrasted with countries elsewhere in the world, where healthcare systems are under insurmountable pressures, inequalities between the advanced and developing worlds show up starkly. Discrepancies in health care of countries with differing growth rates are not new. But it is ill-considered from a global policymaking standpoint if in one part of the world a preventable shortage of oxygen is stealing lives even as a few countries are able to get the virus under control.
It does not bode well for the world's collective recovery when countries recover at drastically unequal paces, some going into partial lockdowns, others doing well enough to be able to welcome visitors. We should all be able to get there.
Until the whole world is vaccinated and it is safe to travel, the pandemic will not truly be over. Only once everyone is safe is anyone really safe.
From Zero
Artist: Linkin Park
Label: Warner Records
Number of tracks: 11
Rating: 4/5
Results
2pm: Maiden (PA) Dh 40,000 (Dirt) 1,200m, Winner: AF Thayer, Tadhg O’Shea (jockey), Ernst Oertel (trainer).
2.30pm: Maiden (PA) Dh 40,000 (D) 1,200m, Winner: AF Sahwa, Nathan Crosse, Mohamed Ramadan.
3pm: Handicap (PA) Dh 40,000 (D) 1,000m, Winner: AF Thobor, Szczepan Mazur, Ernst Oertel.
3.30pm: Handicap (PA) Dh 40,000 (D) 2,000m, Winner: AF Mezmar, Szczepan Mazur, Ernst Oertel.
4pm: Sheikh Hamdan bin Rashid Al Maktoum Cup presented by Longines (TB) Dh 200,000 (D) 1,700m, Winner: Galvanize, Nathan Cross, Doug Watson.
4.30pm: Handicap (PA) Dh 40,000 (D) 1,700m, Winner: Ajaj, Bernardo Pinheiro, Mohamed Daggash.
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%3Cp%3E%3Cstrong%3EDirector%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3EAyan%20Mukerji%3C%2Fp%3E%0A%3Cp%3E%3Cstrong%3EStars%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3ERanbir%20Kapoor%2C%20Alia%20Bhatt%20and%20Amitabh%20Bachchan%3C%2Fp%3E%0A%3Cp%3E%3Cstrong%3ERating%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%202%2F5%3C%2Fp%3E%0A
THE BIO
Born: Mukalla, Yemen, 1979
Education: UAE University, Al Ain
Family: Married with two daughters: Asayel, 7, and Sara, 6
Favourite piece of music: Horse Dance by Naseer Shamma
Favourite book: Science and geology
Favourite place to travel to: Washington DC
Best advice you’ve ever been given: If you have a dream, you have to believe it, then you will see it.
Stamp duty timeline
December 2014: Former UK finance minister George Osbourne reforms stamp duty, replacing the slab system with a blended rate scheme, with the top rate increasing to 12 per cent from 10 per cent:
Up to £125,000 - 0%; £125,000 to £250,000 – 2%; £250,000 to £925,000 – 5%; £925,000 to £1.5m: 10%; Over £1.5m – 12%
April 2016: New 3% surcharge applied to any buy-to-let properties or additional homes purchased.
July 2020: Rishi Sunak unveils SDLT holiday, with no tax to pay on the first £500,000, with buyers saving up to £15,000.
March 2021: Mr Sunak decides the fate of SDLT holiday at his March 3 budget, with expectations he will extend the perk unti June.
April 2021: 2% SDLT surcharge added to property transactions made by overseas buyers.
Jetour T1 specs
Engine: 2-litre turbocharged
Power: 254hp
Torque: 390Nm
Price: From Dh126,000
Available: Now
Killing of Qassem Suleimani
More from Neighbourhood Watch:
Ten tax points to be aware of in 2026
1. Domestic VAT refund amendments: request your refund within five years
If a business does not apply for the refund on time, they lose their credit.
2. E-invoicing in the UAE
Businesses should continue preparing for the implementation of e-invoicing in the UAE, with 2026 a preparation and transition period ahead of phased mandatory adoption.
3. More tax audits
Tax authorities are increasingly using data already available across multiple filings to identify audit risks.
4. More beneficial VAT and excise tax penalty regime
Tax disputes are expected to become more frequent and more structured, with clearer administrative objection and appeal processes. The UAE has adopted a new penalty regime for VAT and excise disputes, which now mirrors the penalty regime for corporate tax.
5. Greater emphasis on statutory audit
There is a greater need for the accuracy of financial statements. The International Financial Reporting Standards standards need to be strictly adhered to and, as a result, the quality of the audits will need to increase.
6. Further transfer pricing enforcement
Transfer pricing enforcement, which refers to the practice of establishing prices for internal transactions between related entities, is expected to broaden in scope. The UAE will shortly open the possibility to negotiate advance pricing agreements, or essentially rulings for transfer pricing purposes.
7. Limited time periods for audits
Recent amendments also introduce a default five-year limitation period for tax audits and assessments, subject to specific statutory exceptions. While the standard audit and assessment period is five years, this may be extended to up to 15 years in cases involving fraud or tax evasion.
8. Pillar 2 implementation
Many multinational groups will begin to feel the practical effect of the Domestic Minimum Top-Up Tax (DMTT), the UAE's implementation of the OECD’s global minimum tax under Pillar 2. While the rules apply for financial years starting on or after January 1, 2025, it is 2026 that marks the transition to an operational phase.
9. Reduced compliance obligations for imported goods and services
Businesses that apply the reverse-charge mechanism for VAT purposes in the UAE may benefit from reduced compliance obligations.
10. Substance and CbC reporting focus
Tax authorities are expected to continue strengthening the enforcement of economic substance and Country-by-Country (CbC) reporting frameworks. In the UAE, these regimes are increasingly being used as risk-assessment tools, providing tax authorities with a comprehensive view of multinational groups’ global footprints and enabling them to assess whether profits are aligned with real economic activity.
Contributed by Thomas Vanhee and Hend Rashwan, Aurifer
Six large-scale objects on show
- Concrete wall and windows from the now demolished Robin Hood Gardens housing estate in Poplar
- The 17th Century Agra Colonnade, from the bathhouse of the fort of Agra in India
- A stagecloth for The Ballet Russes that is 10m high – the largest Picasso in the world
- Frank Lloyd Wright’s 1930s Kaufmann Office
- A full-scale Frankfurt Kitchen designed by Margarete Schütte-Lihotzky, which transformed kitchen design in the 20th century
- Torrijos Palace dome
Farage on Muslim Brotherhood
Nigel Farage told Reform's annual conference that the party will proscribe the Muslim Brotherhood if he becomes Prime Minister.
"We will stop dangerous organisations with links to terrorism operating in our country," he said. "Quite why we've been so gutless about this – both Labour and Conservative – I don't know.
“All across the Middle East, countries have banned and proscribed the Muslim Brotherhood as a dangerous organisation. We will do the very same.”
It is 10 years since a ground-breaking report into the Muslim Brotherhood by Sir John Jenkins.
Among the former diplomat's findings was an assessment that “the use of extreme violence in the pursuit of the perfect Islamic society” has “never been institutionally disowned” by the movement.
The prime minister at the time, David Cameron, who commissioned the report, said membership or association with the Muslim Brotherhood was a "possible indicator of extremism" but it would not be banned.
