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Our briefing for Wednesday, March 2, 2022:
Mar 2, 2022 4:23:52 PM
- In the United States, President Joe Biden has announced a new program that will allow Americans to get treated for Covid-19 right after they test positive. The “test and treat” initiative will provide patients with antiviral Covid-19 medications at pharmacies right after they have a positive test, at no cost. While the antiviral pills have been scarce until now, Biden says Pfizer will provide 1 million pills in March and more than double that next month. The United States has ordered more of the treatments than any other country in the world. Biden also committed to prepare to fight new variants, explaining that the U.S. is in a position to deploy vaccines within 100 days of a variant’s arrival.
- In Canada, the government of Alberta is forcing all municipalities to remove their mask bylaws, as Covid-19 restrictions lift across the province. When the government ended its mask mandate on March 1 as part of a broader easing of restrictions, the City of Calgary immediately followed suit. Edmonton, however, still has its mask bylaw in place, with city council not expected to discuss the bylaw until March 8. Premier Jason Kenney made the announcement at a news conference in Red Deer on Tuesday. "Something that Albertans do not deserve right now is uncertainty and confusion," Kenney said. “That is why I am announcing today that Alberta's government will introduce in the legislature, as soon as possible, amendments to the Municipal Government Act which will remove the abilities of municipalities to impose their own separate public health restrictions.”
- In the United Kingdom, the “no jab, no job” policy for healthcare workers has been scrapped, as the government makes a U-turn on its original position. The mandatory vaccination rules have been in force for long-term care workers since November and were due to apply to frontline National Health Service staff from April 1. The policy was met by fierce resistance by those in the industry who argued that firing workers would result in crisis-level staff shortages. Health Secretary Sajid Javid has since confirmed that staff will no longer be required by law to get vaccinated, and that the existing rules will end on March 15.
- Japan will extend coronavirus curbs in some prefectures as hospitalization numbers slowly rise. Five prefectures have asked the central government to extend restrictions that are set to expire on Sunday. Although case numbers are down across the country, hospitals are struggling to treat an influx of patients with more serious symptoms. The media reports that 10 prefectures, including Tokyo, will seek to extend their curbs by two to three weeks. Japan’s restrictions involve shorter business hours and limits on the sale of alcohol. February was the country’s deadliest month for Covid-19, with 4,856 fatalities recorded.
- In the Philippines, metro Manilla shifted to its lowest alert level on Tuesday, as coronavirus case numbers continued to fall. Under Alert Level 1, businesses including restaurants and gyms can operate at full capacity, social distancing is no longer required in Manilla and all public gatherings can fully resume. The current rules will stay in place until March 15 at which time they will be reviewed again. President Rodrigo Duterte’s government has moved to an endemic approach to the virus, despite more than 40% of the population still being unvaccinated. Vaccines for children ages five to 11 only started this month, and the country’s booster rollout has been sluggish.
- Australia’s Prime Minister Scott Morrison tested positive for Covid-19 on Tuesday, and says he is currently experiencing flu-like symptoms. Morrison says he will continue with his official duties as prime minister while isolating at home. “I had tested myself daily since Sunday, including this morning, with all tests returning a negative result,” Morrison said. “I took a further test this evening after developing a fever late today. The test was inconclusive, so I took a PCR test tonight which returned a positive result late this evening.” The prime minister’s wife and children are isolating for seven days after testing negative.
Covid-19 – Due Diligence And Asset Management
HSBC to Require Vaccine Pass for Hong Kong Employees
Brief: HSBC Holdings Plc will require all employees to have a valid vaccine pass to enter its premises in Hong Kong from March 28, as the Asian financial hub battles its worst outbreak since the pandemic started. “All HSBC employees, contractors and third parties will need to be vaccinated or have a valid medical exemption to enter any HSBC premises, including all branches,” the bank said in a memo on Wednesday. The new requirement won’t apply to customers entering HSBC branches. A spokesman for the lender confirmed the content of the memo. The Hong Kong Monetary Authority last month urged banks to consider imposing a vaccine mandate at the workplace and required them to inform the regulator whether they will do so. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. earlier introduced rules requiring all staff to get their shots before entering the office from Feb. 24.
Covid Hampers Hong Kong's Growth While Singapore Races Ahead
Brief: Hong Kong’s escalating Covid-19 crisis and its desperate bid to rid the population of the virus is pushing the economy into contraction again. Economists have been downgrading their growth forecasts for Hong Kong this year alongside the government’s ever-tighter virus control measures, from travel bans to business closures. With mass testing of residents on the cards in March, more disruptions to the economy are expected. Gross domestic product is now predicted to contract 1% in the first quarter, according to a Bloomberg survey of economists. While growth is set to rebound in the second quarter, the outlook is far from clear, given speculation of a full lockdown in the city. That would be unprecedented for Hong Kong and raise the prospect of an extended slump in the economy. There’s been no official information of a shutdown yet, though residents are already emptying store shelves to prepare for the worst.
Covid has taken severe mental health toll, says WHO
Brief: The Covid pandemic has taken a dire toll on mental health, the World Health Organization (WHO) said today, indicating that cases of anxiety and depression had swelled by over 25% globally. In a fresh scientific brief, WHO also found that the Covid-19 crisis had in many cases significantly impeded access to mental health services and raised concerns about increases in suicidal behaviour. The brief, which was based on an umbrella review of a vast number of studies, determined that the world saw a 27.6% increase in cases of major depressive disorder in 2020 alone. During the first year of the pandemic, there was also a 25.6% hike in cases of anxiety disorders worldwide, it found. “In terms of scale, this is a very large increase,” said Brandon Gray of WHO’s mental health and substance use department, who coordinated the scientific brief. The brief, he told AFP, “shows that Covid-19 has had a large impact on people’s mental health and wellbeing”.
Comptroller Lander Launches Tracker for City Spending of $11 Billion in Federal Pandemic Aid
Brief: New York City Comptroller Brad Lander on Tuesday unveiled an online dashboard tracking how the city is spending and allocating more than $11 billion in federal stimulus funds. Lander pointed to several deficiencies in the city’s accounting of those funds, with unclear links between the source of funding and expenditures and sparse measures of the outcomes of that spending. He is hoping to work with fellow Democrat Mayor Eric Adams on addressing these issues left behind by the administration of Mayor Bill de Blasio. The city and its residents are expected to receive as much as $26 billion through the 2026 fiscal year in various forms of direct and indirect federal aid including stimulus checks, unemployment insurance, and federal grants, among others.
Scotiabank, BMO profits gain as businesses ramp up borrowing
Brief: Bank of Nova Scotia and Bank of Montreal got an earnings boost with commercial clients ramping up their borrowing as economies emerged further from the pandemic. Scotiabank increased fiscal first-quarter government and commercial loans 8.2 per cent from a year earlier in its international division and 16 per cent in its Canadian unit. At Bank of Montreal, business loans rose 9.9 per cent in its Canadian banking unit and 9.1 per cent in its U.S. division. Both banks’ overall profit topped analysts’ estimates. Canada’s banks had weathered the COVID-19 crisis with strong mortgage growth, helped by the country’s hot housing market. That lending strength is now broadening to other categories as economies recover from the earlier phases of the pandemic and omicron-variant infections dissipate, prompting businesses and consumers to borrow more.
