Some good news 🤞
Socially distant selfies, NZ is corona free, and people adjusting to the new normal.
Hi 👋, Tanvi here.
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Let’s go ahead and get started:
Stock market summary: 😍
US - S&P 500 up 1.20% 🔼
India - Sensex up 0.24% 🔼
New Zealand declared free from COVID-19 🎉
We finally have some positive news. After discharging the last recovered coronavirus patient, New Zealand is set to lift almost all its COVID-19 related restrictions.
According to the reopening plan, social distancing will not be required anymore but will be encouraged. There will be no restrictions on public gatherings. Borders however will remain sealed to prevent foreign carriers entering the country. New Zealanders coming from abroad will have to go through compulsory 14 day quarantine.
The country has seen 1,154 cases and 22 deaths from the virus since its arrival in February. NZ first went into lockdown on 25 March which shut schools and businesses. The country has not reported any new coronavirus cases in the last 17 days which prompted management to take this step.
Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern has been widely praised for handling of the crisis.
Big Pharma sees rivalries ending 👊
UK based AstraZeneca, one of the largest pharma players in the world, approached US rival Gilead Sciences for a merger hoping to form one of the largest drug companies in the world.
A deal like this would likely put the two drug companies at the forefront of the industry’s efforts to produce a vaccine for the novel coronavirus.
Gilead’s biggest drug is an HIV drug Bitarvy with sales of $1.69 billion in the first quarter and AstraZeneca’s top selling drug is Tagrisso to treat lung cancer which made the company $982 million in the first quarter.
Gilead has been at the forefront of COVID-19 vaccine production, with its drug Remdesivir leading to improvement in coronavirus patients in clinical trials.
Also, both companies have unique research and expertise in key areas such as oncology, with experts believing combining resources could help accelerate many of mankind’s toughest problems, including curing cancer.
Socially distant selfies 🤳
As a measure to adjust to the new normal Apple has come up the concept of socially distant selfies. The company was granted a patent which would generate synthetic group selfies as a way to abide by social distancing rules.
According to the patent, a user could invite others to participate in a group selfie and then the software arranges the photos together in a single image.
Interestingly, Apple actually first filed for a patent in 2018 (before corona), which was finally granted on June 2nd. Talk about coincidence.
Technology companies file for patents all the time however so the question remains when Apple will incorporate the software in devices.
Back to work 🙌
Offices in green zones are reopening and employees are going back to work. Companies are ensuring enhanced sanitization and safety measures in offices.
In India, companies such as L’Oreal, Panasonic, Salesforce, and Flipkart are among the ones opting for deep cleaning, fumigation and frequent disinfection and according to experts the housekeeping costs are estimated to rise by 30-60%.
While some regions open, others in containment zones are still barred from reopening and companies are coping with the change in their own ways.
Marico will ensure that at least 40% of its office based staff would be remotely working.
Mercedes Benz is looking at implementing 3 day work in offices and 2 days of WFH.
Nestle has assigned special desks to employees to maintain a 2 mt. distance.
What else are we Snackin’🍿
😰 Tremors felt as an earthquake of 2.1 magnitude hit Delhi - a small earthquake hit Delhi at around 1PM yesterday. The epicenter was at the Gurugram-Delhi border, and the quake occurred about 18 kms below the Earth’s surface. There was no damage caused or casualties reported.
⛽ Petrol and diesel 60 paise per litre after second consecutive day spike - breaking an 83-day hiatus, state oil companies have reverted back to daily price revision, hiking prices of petrol and diesel by the same amount on consecutive days
🗽 NYC begins reopening amidst pandemic and protests - as the civil unrest is calming, and new infection rate in NYC continues to decline, The Big Apple is planning to reopen slowly. Summer has already begun and this is probably the first time in centuries that the city will see little tourist inflow.
📈 Canada unexpectedly adds 289,600 jobs in May - on lines with the USA adding 2.7 Million jobs last week, Canada has added jobs too vs. projections for job losses.
📱Paytm expands post paid services to local kirana shops - Paytm’s POS-lending product allowing users to borrow money and pay via Paytm later while shopping is now extending the service to local Kirana shops as well. Until now, the service was mostly available at large label shops and department stores.
Tweet of the day -
The new normal is getting here faster than we imagined.
As the nation reopens, small businesses are coming up with innovative ways to help customers feel safe, including using glass partitions on dining tables of restaurants. However, it still remains to be seen how far these measures go in bringing customers out with the same vigor as before.
One thing is for sure, you can count on Indians to be innovative - across all lines.
Hope you took a thing or two away from today’s edition. 😀
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Finally some good freaking news. <Insert Gordon Ramsay Meme>