DAILY DOSE: December 29, 2020
Posted on 12/29/2020
1. World Health Organization (WHO) chief scientist Soumya Swaminathan during a virtual conference on Monday said, “I don’t believe we have the evidence on any of the vaccines to be confident that it’s going to prevent people from actually getting the infection and therefore being able to pass it on.” Some pathogens can infect and reproduce in vaccinated people for short periods of time without making them sick. There is uncertainty on whether COVID-19 vaccines will stop transmission of the virus or just prevent people from becoming sick. Furthermore, it’s still unknown how long immunity through vaccination lasts.
2. Kandi Technologies Group, Inc. (ticker KNDI) is a Chinese battery and electric vehicle manufacturer. Kandi entered into a Strategic Cooperation Agreement with Agricultural Bank of China Hangzhou Branch.
3. News agencies are reporting that an Apple Inc (ticker AAPL) supplier is using forced labor in China.
4. NASDAQ Composite Index hit its 55th record close of the year on Monday.
5. United Arab Emirates reports 1,506 new coronavirus cases since late October 2020. Dubai seeks to vaccinate 70% of its population with the coronavirus vaccine developed by Pfizer and BioNTech by the end of December 2021. Kuwait targets to vaccinate 80% of its population against COVID-19 by September 2021.
6. Hong Kong media magnate Jimmy Lai was charged earlier in December 2020 of colluding with foreign forces under Hong Kong’s new national security law. Jimmy Lai resigned as Chairman of Next Digital Ltd.
7. The New York Legislature on Monday overwhelmingly passed an anti-eviction law. New York state is dealing with high levels of unemployment caused by a pandemic. Signed by New York Governor Andrew Cuomo, landlords will be barred from evicting most tenants for at least another 60 days in almost all cases.
