7. 7
Singapore’s Vaccinated Travel Lane
Source: Nikkei Asia
On Sept. 8, Singapore opened a new travel corridor that allows people fully vaccinated people to enter the country
without quarantining
Germany
Brunei
25. 25
9/11
Hundreds of people lined up at the park in Eagle Rock Reservation, N.J., to view the destruction of the World Trade Center
Source: The New York Times
Globally, as of 4:47pm CEST, 10 September 2021, there have been 223,022,538 confirmed cases of COVID-19, including 4,602,882 deaths, reported to WHO. As of 5 September 2021, a total of 5,352,927,296 vaccine doses have been administered.
41.8% of the world population has received at least one dose of a COVID-19 vaccine.5.7 billion doses have been administered globally, and 31.59 million are now administered each day.Only 1.9% of people in low-income countries have received at least one dose.
https://www.reuters.com/lifestyle/sports/japan-withdraws-hosting-club-world-cup-2021-09-09/
The Japan Football Association (JFA) has withdrawn from hosting the 2021 Club World Cup due to the COVID-19 situation in the country, world soccer's governing body (FIFA) said on Thursday.
https://www.reuters.com/world/asia-pacific/japan-seeks-extend-covid-emergency-curbs-tokyo-other-areas-minister-2021-09-09/
Japan has been struggling with a fifth wave of the virus and last month extended its long-running curbs until Sept. 12 to cover about 80% of its population.
Japan extends COVID-19 state of emergency for 19 areas till Sept. 30 - Xinhua (xinhuanet.com)
The number of severe cases and the strain on the medical system have not eased sufficiently in Tokyo and surrounding areas to allow restrictions to be lifted. The measures will now stretch until Sept. 30, including for Osaka in the west.
Active Cases = 1.3 M
https://www.cnbc.com/2021/09/12/no-vaccine-passports-uk-pm-to-set-out-winter-covid-19-plan.html
No vaccine passports: UK PM to set out winter Covid-19 plan (cnbc.com)
British Prime Minister Boris Johnson will set out on Tuesday his plans to manage the Covid-19 pandemic in the winter months, announcing a decision to scrap the introduction of vaccine passports and steps to end some emergency powers.
the government would remain “cautious”, but “the vaccine program, our testing program, our surveillance program, the new treatments ... this is all our wall of defense and whilst there’s a lot of virus around, it is working”.
The night-time industry welcomed the U-turn on vaccine passports, with Michael Kill, the chief executive of the Night Time Industries Association (NTIA) trade body, saying he hoped businesses would be able to “start to rebuild a sector that has consistently been at the sharp end of this pandemic”.
The government also said it expected Britain’s Joint Committee for Vaccination and Immunisation (JCVI) to confirm the details of a vaccination booster program to begin this month.
TNN World
21 hrs ·
United Kingdom: รัฐบาลอังกฤษล้มแผน ‘หนังสือเดินทางวัคซีน’ สำหรับให้ประชาชนที่ฉีดวัคซีนแล้ว ใช้บริการไนท์คลับและร่วมกิจกรรมขนาดใหญ่ได้ซาจิด จาวิด รัฐมนตรีกระทรวงสาธารณสุข บอกกับสำนักข่าว BBC ว่า “ผมยินดีที่จะบอกว่า เราจะไม่เดินหน้าโครงการนี้แล้ว” และ “เราไม่ควรใช้หนังสือเดินทางวัคซีนนี้ เพียงเพราะประเทศอื่นเขาใช้กัน”ทั้งที่ เมื่อสัปดาห์ที่แล้ว นาดฮิม ซาวาฮี รัฐมนตรีวัคซีนของสหราชอาณาจักรให้สัมภาษณ์ว่า โครงการหนังสือเดินทางวัคซีนเป็นนโยบายที่เหมาะสม เพราะเป็นหนทางที่ดีที่สุด เพื่อให้สถานบันเทิงยามค่ำคืนอย่างไนท์คลับ เปิดต่อไปได้โครงการหนังสือเดินทางวัคซีน หรือ Vaccine Passport เป็นเอกสารที่ประชาชนใช้เป็นหลักฐานว่า ตนเองฉีดวัคซีนครบ 2 โดสแล้ว เพื่อเข้าใช้บริการไนท์คลับ และกิจกรรมขนาดใหญ่ต่าง ๆแต่โครงการนี้ เผชิญกับเสียงวิพากษ์วิจารณ์อย่างหนักจากผู้ประกอบกิจการ และนักการเมืองบางคน ทำให้จากเดิมจะบังคับใช้ภายในปลายเดือนนี้ มาวันนี้ รัฐบาลจึงล้มแผนดังกล่าวสมาคมผู้ประกอบการอุตสาหกรรมไนท์คลับระบุว่า แผนดังกล่าว จะทำให้อุตสาหกรรมไนท์คลับเผชิญกับเสียงวิจารณ์ว่าแบ่งแยกลูกค้าที่ฉีดวัคซีนแล้ว และยังไม่ฉีดวัคซีนสำหรับสถานการณ์โควิดในสหราชอาณาจักร ช่วง 24 ชั่วโมงที่ผ่านมา มีผู้เสียชีวิตใหม่ 156 คน และผู้ป่วยเพิ่มเกือบ 3 หมื่นคน ทำให้ผู้เสียชีวิตสะสมอยู่ที่ 134,144 คน และป่วยสะสมเกือบ 7.2 ล้านคน
At present, Singapore allows people traveling from low-risk locations, including China, Taiwan and Hong Kong, to enter without quarantining, regardless of their vaccination status.
The new scheme, called the Vaccinated Travel Lane, will first cover travelers from Germany and Brunei. Most arrivals are expected to be from the European country, given the size of its economy. Germany was chosen first due to its high vaccination rate, relatively stable COVID situation and connections to the city-state.
They are also required to take PCR tests before departure and on arrival at Changi Airport. They must also take tests on the third and seventh day of their stay in Singapore.
Applications to travel to Singapore from Germany or Brunei open on Sept. 1, and conditions include:
Traveling on designated, nonstop flights for the vaccinated travel lane (VTL);
Remaining in Germany or Brunei for 21 consecutive days before the flight;
Downloading a contact tracing app in Singapore
a shortage of shipping containers
During the outbreak, cargo ships which had already of routed out of Asia and dropped off thousands of containers full of goods in ports across the US. They were unable to load those containers with new products and ship them back to Asia due to the restrictions. As containers continued to pile up at major import hubs, their supply at major export hubs dwindled, causing container prices to rise. Drewry’s composite World Container index increased by 1.7% or $170 to reach $9,987.27 per 40ft container, 344% higher than the same week in 2020. As a result, the cost of importing items from Asia has risen, and delivery times have increased.
However, fresh supply interruptions have occurred, such as the drought in Brazil and flooding in China, which have impacted supply of coffee/sugar and aluminum, respectively.
In China, the factory gate price rose to a 13-year high, adding to the pressure on global consumer prices which have been driven up by a commodities boom, skyrocketing shipping costs and economic recovery from the outbreak. The surge in PPI was primarily due to higher costs for commodities such as coal, chemicals, and steel. According to NBS, output prices in the coal mining industry climbed the fastest, up 57.1% YoY in August. So far, the Chinese government’s specific measures to slow down the quick gains, such as increasing supplies, aiming to reduce hoarding, and releasing crude oil from its national reserves to alleviate stress on businesses over rising raw material costs.
The automotive industry has been hit the hardest by rising raw material prices and supply chain disruption, followed by footwear and apparel, food and beverage, IT and electronic manufacturing, and healthcare and pharmaceuticals. The automotive industry is being impacted by a semiconductor shortage caused by a high demand for personal computer and other consumer electronics needs by people working from home during lockdowns. Besides from a surge of new COVID-19 new cases in producer nations as Malaysia and Vietnam. Big car producers (Daimlers, Mercedes Benz, and Volkswagen) believe that the chip shortage will begin to lessen as the spread of COVID-19 decreases. However, this chip shortage will remain an ongoing problem globally. This year, the industry will lose $60 billion in sales.
When and how will they be relieved? Some supply disruptions, most notably those caused by harsh weather, will fade relatively rapidly. Meanwhile, as advanced economies’ service sectors reopen, demand for products such as electronics and furnishings should ease. Meanwhile, investment in semiconductor manufacturing is increasing. In the meantime, each of these things will take time, especially boosting production capacity. Furthermore, labour shortages appear to be continuing, at least in the US.