The United States passed five million Covid-19 cases on Sunday after adding one million new cases in just over two weeks, data from Johns Hopkins University showed.
The US, which has the worst outbreak of any country, recorded a total of 4 million cases on July 23 amid a surging outbreak in the south-east and south-west, and political battles over the Trump government's response to the pandemic.
The daily numbers were down from recent peaks, with 56,070 cases reported on Saturday, a 1.1 per cent increase on the previous day. Total deaths are 162,441, the data showed.
Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden said the grim 5 million milestone "breaks the heart".
“It’s a number that boggles the mind and breaks the heart,” Mr Biden wrote on the Medium website at the weekend.
“Five million is more than the entire population of Alabama – or of more than half the states in our union, for that matter.
"Each time the number clicks up, it represents a life altered, a family stricken with anxiety, a community on edge.
"And for the families of the more than 160,000 souls who have died because of this virus, it is a pain that can never be undone.”
Mr Biden criticised President Donald Trump’s handling of the pandemic as the two prepared to compete in November’s elections.
“And yet, we continue to hear little more from President Trump than excuses and lies in an effort to cover for his repeated failures of leadership – failures that worsened the pandemic here at home and in turn deepened our economic crisis," Mr Biden wrote.
White House economic adviser Larry Kudlow on Sunday said the US was making inroads against the virus’s spread.
“Having gone through a very tough period as the virus spread to the south and west, it looks like we’re making pretty good progress,” Mr Kudlow told ABC.
“Am I worried in general? Yes, I’m always worried in general. Things have happened here that no one expected to happen – exponentially.”
Meanwhile, The Washington Post reported that an internal model by the White House's Council of Economic Advisers is projecting a rise in infections in August and into September and October, in the Midwest and elsewhere.
Mr Kudlow said he had “not heard anything about” that analysis.
Cases and deaths slowed in Florida and Arizona, two badly hit states.
Florida added 6,229 cases, a 1.2 per cent rise compared with the 1.4 per cent average daily increase over the previous week. Total cases are now 532,806.
Deaths among the state's residents also slowed, to 77 from 182 the day before. The state's death toll is now 8,186.
Arizona reported 816 cases, its lowest since late June. The 0.4 per cent increase was below the 0.7 per cent daily average increase of the previous week. Total cases are now 186,923.
The state, which medical experts including Anthony Fauci say appears to be turning a corner in its outbreak, reported 13 deaths, down from 56 the previous day. The death toll is now 4,150.
New York reported a 0.1 per cent rise in cases to 515, below the 0.2 per cent average daily increase from the previous week.
The state reported seven deaths, according to a tweet from Governor Andrew Cuomo.
Mr Cuomo said the 0.78 per cent rate of positive tests was the “lowest we have seen since the pandemic began".
The number of people admitted to hospital remained steady.
Former Food and Drug Administration commissioner Scott Gottlieb said the US appeared to be headed for a surge in rural regions after the virus hit urban areas.
“We’re probably going to have another wave,” Mr Gottlieb told CBS on Sunday.
He said there was concern about largely untouched rural communities, which were “probably a bit more complacent” about virus risks.
Rural spread is “going to be far more difficult to control if it’s more widespread", Mr Gottlieb said.
“We’re seeing indications of that right now, the wave spreading in the Midwest and the West.”
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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The National Archives, Abu Dhabi
Founded over 50 years ago, the National Archives collects valuable historical material relating to the UAE, and is the oldest and richest archive relating to the Arabian Gulf.
Much of the material can be viewed on line at the Arabian Gulf Digital Archive - https://www.agda.ae/en
Sole survivors
- Cecelia Crocker was on board Northwest Airlines Flight 255 in 1987 when it crashed in Detroit, killing 154 people, including her parents and brother. The plane had hit a light pole on take off
- George Lamson Jr, from Minnesota, was on a Galaxy Airlines flight that crashed in Reno in 1985, killing 68 people. His entire seat was launched out of the plane
- Bahia Bakari, then 12, survived when a Yemenia Airways flight crashed near the Comoros in 2009, killing 152. She was found clinging to wreckage after floating in the ocean for 13 hours.
- Jim Polehinke was the co-pilot and sole survivor of a 2006 Comair flight that crashed in Lexington, Kentucky, killing 49.
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Why it pays to compare
A comparison of sending Dh20,000 from the UAE using two different routes at the same time - the first direct from a UAE bank to a bank in Germany, and the second from the same UAE bank via an online platform to Germany - found key differences in cost and speed. The transfers were both initiated on January 30.
Route 1: bank transfer
The UAE bank charged Dh152.25 for the Dh20,000 transfer. On top of that, their exchange rate margin added a difference of around Dh415, compared with the mid-market rate.
Total cost: Dh567.25 - around 2.9 per cent of the total amount
Total received: €4,670.30
Route 2: online platform
The UAE bank’s charge for sending Dh20,000 to a UK dirham-denominated account was Dh2.10. The exchange rate margin cost was Dh60, plus a Dh12 fee.
Total cost: Dh74.10, around 0.4 per cent of the transaction
Total received: €4,756
The UAE bank transfer was far quicker – around two to three working days, while the online platform took around four to five days, but was considerably cheaper. In the online platform transfer, the funds were also exposed to currency risk during the period it took for them to arrive.
About Housecall
Date started: July 2020
Founders: Omar and Humaid Alzaabi
Based: Abu Dhabi
Sector: HealthTech
# of staff: 10
Funding to date: Self-funded
Islamophobia definition
A widely accepted definition was made by the All Party Parliamentary Group on British Muslims in 2019: “Islamophobia is rooted in racism and is a type of racism that targets expressions of Muslimness or perceived Muslimness.” It further defines it as “inciting hatred or violence against Muslims”.
Zayed Sustainability Prize
