Week 40

Certificate! 📜

April 24, 2021

Good Morning,

Welcome! I hope you have your “Subah Kee Chai” ready and you're excited to read your weekly 10-minute digest. 

This week was flooded with coronavirus! It has stolen the spotlight - and is rapidly rising, as the second wave has, unfortunately, hit the nation. Other than COVID-19, markets ended in the red and IPL has luckily provided some form of entertainment during a dark time. I hope everyone is safe and doing well! Enjoy your Sunday!  

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Now let’s get into the news.

Markets

Markets

A rollercoaster week for our equity markets as both indexes ended in the red on Friday after a rapid rise in COVID-19 cases. Equity benchmark

dropped over 200 points on Friday, with Nifty 50 dipping over 60 points. The second wave of COVID-19 cases and the fear of a new Indian variant has significantly impacted the economic recovery of India sparking new fears for investors and businesses. M&M was the top loser at the end of the week dropping over 2%, followed by Dr. Reddy's, Bharti Airtel, Tech Mahindra, HUL, ICICI Bank, and Infosys. On the positive side, PowerGrid, NTPC, Induslnd Bank, Axis Bank, HDFC, and Asian Paints were among the top gainers on Friday. COVID-19 has stolen the spotlight at the moment, as an exponential rise in cases, rising demand for oxygen, and a growing fear of new lockdown restrictions have pushed investor sentiments to a new low. Lastly, the price of gold remained fairly stagnant throughout the week, and the price of crude oil rose by half a percent. 

COVID-19

India recorded over 3.32 lakh new coronavirus cases in a single day, taking the country's overall case tally to 16,743,955, and the current number of active COVID-19 cases in India sits at 24 lakh. The State of Bengal is facing a new challenge, as a new triple-mutated variant of COVID-19 is being reported throughout the state. The

, as scientists call it, is claimed to be extremely infective, and can escape an individual's immune system causing a person to suffer from the virus even if they have already had it, or if they have been vaccinated. Scary!

India's capital city,

, recorded its highest spike in COVID-19 cases and deaths, with the capital reporting 23,395 cases and over 300 deaths. The positivity rate sat at 32.82% meaning that every third sample came back positive for the novel coronavirus. Doctors, further emphasized, that the actual number of infected patients in the capital and across the nation is much higher, however is not being recorded due to testing delays. 

India's health infrastructure is crumbling...and it is appalling to watch! The new rise in cases has triggered an unprecedented demand for oxygen and hospital beds placing a lot of pressure and causing significant shortages. Hearing the stories of individuals dying

and healthcare is absolutely heartbreaking. The Indian Government has immediately suspended the industrial use of oxygen and diverted it directly towards medical use. This national emergency is real! It is scary! And it is extremely important for every individual to ensure their safety alongside others! 

Staying at home is essential to protecting yourself! Wearing a mask is essential! Social distancing is essential! 

Be safe! Stay Healthy! 

COVID! COVID! COVID!

Ahh! The news this week has just been flooded with COVID-19! What started off as a 'one-month lockdown' has lasted what feels like a lifetime. 

Jab certificates 

The CEO of the National Health Authority recently stated that the COVID-19

will soon be one of the most important documents, as it will be internationally accepted as proof for various purposes like international and domestic travel, festivals, concerts, sporting events, and a number of crowd-related gatherings. Once proof of vaccination becomes a mandatory entry requirement, like the current 'negative COVID-19 test report', people that are fully vaccinated will be able to show a globally accepted certificate on their mobile devices. Vaccination certificates are already digitised, and are tamper and forgery-proof. Have you got your vaccine yet? What was the process like? Let me know by replying to this email! 

Flight suspensions

A number of countries across the globe have

to India amid the second wave of COVID-19 cases that are affecting the nation. The United Kingdom added India to their 'red list' forcing individuals arriving into the UK from India to undertake mandatory hotel quarantine. The UAE, Canada, Kuwait, USA, Israel and a number of other countries have also either suspended or restricted flights to and from India to avoid the further spread of the newly mutated COVID-19 virus. 

Vaccine!

700 Million! 

To protect yourself and others from the novel coronavirus, it is essential to take the newly developed COVID-19 vaccine. The vaccine has been developed by a number of companies with each vaccine having differing efficiency rates. Bharat Biotech, the developer of one of India's COVID-19 vaccine Covaxin, on Tuesday, stated that it has scaled up its manufacturing capacities to

per annum, making it one of the largest production capacities for vaccines globally. Covaxin has so far received emergency use authorization (EUA) in countries such as Mexico, Philippines, Iran, Paraguay, Guatemala, Nicaragua, Guyana, Venezuela, Botswana, Zimbabwe and is currently in the process of securing EUA's in 60 other countries including the USA and Europe.

Insignificant Cost

According to India Ratings and Research, vaccinating all citizens over the age of 18 years in India, against COVID-19 will cost the Indian Government INR 67,193 crore, which works out to be just

. An insignificant cost for the government that will prove to be extremely beneficial for the future of our nation, and its economic recovery. Due to the second wave of COVID-19 cases, the Indian Government announced a liberalized and accelerated Phase 3 strategy of COVID-19 vaccination allowing all persons above the age of 18 to be vaccinated from the 1st of May. The Government has made the pricing, procurement, eligibility, and administration of the coronavirus vaccine flexible - however, a lot of work is yet to be done! Individuals need to be vaccinated immediately to reduce the pressure on hospitals, and to re-trigger our road to recovery.

Sports

IPL 2020/21 - Week 2 

Another thrilling week in the Indian Premier League with the Royal Challengers Bangalore yet to lose in the tournament! They look like the clear favorites with Indian skipper Virat Kohli leading the team. This week hosted some exciting games, however, the standout match for me was Chennai Super Kings v Kolkata Knight Riders with both teams managing to score over 200 runs.

Shikhar Dhawan leads the pack as the highest run-scorer of the tournament having scored 231 runs in 4 matches, with an average of 57.15 runs per game. He is the leading batsman for the Delhi Capitals. KL Rahul is not far behind him sitting on 221 runs in 4 matches, and he plays for the Kings XI Punjab.

On the bowling front, Harshal Patel! Wow. He has been extremely impressive having picked up 12 wickets over 4 matches, with an economy of 7.25. The Indian bowler plays for the Royal Challengers Bangalore and is currently running away as the tournaments leading wicket-tacker. Behind him, is Mumbai Indian's Rahul Chahar on 8 wickets.

In the coming week, there are some exciting games, with the top two leaders Royal Challengers Bangalore and Chennai Super Kings taking on each other on Sunday, the 25th of April. Don't miss out on the action!       

Other News

1. Esports and skill gaming platform

has acquired GamingMonk for an undisclosed fee. 

2. The Indian Aviation regulator has decided to not lift the current ban on the

aircraft following two fatal accidents in the last 6 months. 

3. IndiGo to temporarily suspend its daily flights between

for eight days, due to COVID-19. 

4. Aceware FinTech Services, based in Kerala, launched the state's first

. A neobank is a virtual bank that operates without any physical branches. 

5. On Thursday,

announced that it will provide 25,000 free rides to vulnerable and elderly individuals for vaccination jabs. 

Quiz

Quiz time! Easy one this week... :) 

A 3-letter-word has been taken out of each of the following words. Can you figure it out?

_ _ _E

VI_ _ _OR

PO_ _ _IVE

HE_ _ _ANT

Get thinking! 

See you next week!

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Quiz Answer: 'SIT' SITE VISITORPOSITIVEHESITANT

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Written by: Adnan Bahrainwala (Founder of Subah Kee Chai)