[News] The Coronavirus Good News thread

[Green Cross Code Man]

I’m assuming we have a higher stockload of the Oxford/AZ vaccine?

I also understand it doesn’t need to be kept anywhere near as cold as Pfizer’s, think I saw -4 mentioned.

That is correct on both counts I believe. The temperature thing is crucial imo for the easy distribution of the vaccine.

 

[middletoenail]

Should've jumped onto the pharma markets, could've made a quick buck!

 

[macbeth]

I’m assuming we have a higher stockload of the Oxford/AZ vaccine?

I also understand it doesn’t need to be kept anywhere near as cold as Pfizer’s, think I saw -4 mentioned.

Both true. It's also a LOT cheaper apparently:

https://twitter.com/TomKibasi/status/1326157666419433483?s=19

$3.5 to Pfizer's $25. Quite a substantial difference. The Pfizer vaccine is a great start (and bodes well for the others) but it certainly sounds like the Oxford jab will be the one that does the most heavy lifting, here in the UK anyway. It's all so exciting!

 

[Marshy]

COVID-19 update

We at BSUH currently caring for 60 people with COVID-19 in our hospitals. Of these, 3 are in our Critical Care units.

Whilst the news about the COVID vaccine is positive we don’t yet have any details of timescales and deployment. We will update as soon as we know more. It is likely that there is a necessary gap of up to four weeks between the flu jab and the COVID jab. If you haven’t already done so, please get your flu jab as soon as possible to ensure you are able to have your COVID vaccine as soon as it is available.

Numbers are down on last week so good stuff

 

[Peteinblack]

https://www.standard.co.uk/news/uk/uk-coronavirus-live-latest-updates-covid-vaccine-b62385.html


The Times

 

[Machiavelli]

I’m assuming we have a higher stockload of the Oxford/AZ vaccine?

I also understand it doesn’t need to be kept anywhere near as cold as Pfizer’s, think I saw -4 mentioned.

The other thing to mention is that the Oxford/AZ vaccine has been developed such that it can be made across the world to reduce the friction of global supply chains. It will be produced in the UK.

 

[Mellotron]

Slovakia Says COVID Double-Testing Cut Number of Infections by More Than Half

Slovakia's coronavirus testing and quarantine scheme, running over the past two weekends, has helped cut the proportion of infections by more than half, Prime Minister Igor Matovic said on Monday.

The country of 5.5 million tested 3.6 million people, excluding small children and some senior citizens, over the first weekend in November, with those testing positive having to go into quarantine.

It repeated tests for just over 2 million over this past weekend when testing took place only in more affected areas, with the infection rate turning out to be much lower thanks to the earlier quarantine orders.

https://www.usnews.com/news/world/articles/2020-11-09/slovakia-says-covid-double-testing-cut-number-of-infections-by-more-than-half

 

[LamieRobertson]

Ok...I know it’s Russia..so handful of salt? ...though could it be a case of like busses

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/arti...witter&utm_content=business&utm_medium=social

 

[Giraffe]

FTSE at it's highest level since 5th June. Only a little way to go to be back to early March levels. Albeit that is still a long way short of 2019 Pre Covid highs.

 

[Giraffe]

Yup. I've just trawled through today's entries to this thread, and this seems the first mention of this. The very jolly Sir John Bell was on WatO, and indicated that the Oxford vaccine was weeks -- and not months -- away, and that he expected things to be back to normal in the first quarter of 2021.

Britain saves the day again

 

[Peteinblack]

FTSE at it's highest level since 5th June. Only a little way to go to be back to early March levels. Albeit that is still a long way short of 2019 Pre Covid highs.

My stocks-and-shares ISA has leapt by £750 this week - and it's only Wednesday lunchtime

 

[Giraffe]

My stocks-and-shares ISA has leapt by £750 this week - and it's only Wednesday lunchtime

It's certainly nicer to watch your pension go up daily than what it's been doing all year. Must have screwed a few retirement plans sadly.

 

[Guinness Boy]

It's certainly nicer to watch your pension go up daily than what it's been doing all year. Must have screwed a few retirement plans sadly.

I presume most funds dumped Zoom which crashed 20% yesterday.

https://www.forbes.com/sites/zackfr...hy-zooms-stock-crashed-today/?sh=4c27a627e656

And, yes, that's possibly even a clearer sign than Pfizer up that the corporate world is thinking of getting back to normal - and therefore VERY good news.

Unless you own Zoom.

 

[Driver8]

It's certainly nicer to watch your pension go up daily than what it's been doing all year. Must have screwed a few retirement plans sadly.

Most balanced portfolios my firm manage are actually up year to date despite all that has gone on.

 

[Lyndhurst 14]

Both true. It's also a LOT cheaper apparently:

https://twitter.com/TomKibasi/status/1326157666419433483?s=19

$3.5 to Pfizer's $25. Quite a substantial difference. The Pfizer vaccine is a great start (and bodes well for the others) but it certainly sounds like the Oxford jab will be the one that does the most heavy lifting, here in the UK anyway. It's all so exciting!

Pfizer has said it will make vaccine available free to all American citizens

 

[timbha]

Most balanced portfolios my firm manage are actually up year to date despite all that has gone on.

Presumably this wasn’t the case this time last week?

 

[nwgull]

Most balanced portfolios my firm manage are actually up year to date despite all that has gone on.

I noticed this with my pension. I'm not close to retirement but I have tracked my main fund's performance throughout the year, and it never really dropped by more than about 12-13% even at the worst points of the crash. Prior to the US election it was at about the same level as last December, and following positivity of Biden's election and good news on the vaccine it's now nearly back to the high it was at in Feb, even though the FTSE 100 is still about 17% down from the equivalent time. Makes me appreciate that the fund managers do earn their money.

 

[Driver8]

Presumably this wasn’t the case this time last week?

It was actually. Most balanced portfolios won’t jump around like the FTSE 100, that’s the point.


US market is actually down this week. (Edit NASDAQ not the DJ)

 

[dazzer6666]

Most balanced portfolios my firm manage are actually up year to date despite all that has gone on.

Not at all surprised. I've got a couple of modest pots of selected funds, one I manage myself and one managed professionally (SIPP from a former final salary pension I took out). Both were still up despite the correction last week over a 12 month period. One or two individual funds have suffered (India, Japan - not Covid related) but the the winners (especially anything associated with US tech) are quite heavily compensating for the odd bad choice on my part. Some of the well known funds in particular for example have been outstanding for a long while, like for example Fundsmith (45% in 3 years), B Gifford American (176% in 3 years), Janus H Tech (76% in 3 yrs). Can be a bit scary at times when corrections occur but personally confident that over time I'll do a lot better than cash so learned to ride the waves so to speak - which is OK with a long term view. .

 

[Gazwag]

Latest info from the East of the County 14 cases in DGH Eastbourne 2 in ITU and just 4 in the Conquest in Hastings