1. India Breaks the World Record in the Daily Number of Covid-19 Cases
2. The Airline Industry Expects $48 Billion in a Loss
3. Archegos Damage Assessment in Credit Suisse

India Breaks the World Record in the Daily Number of Covid-19 Cases

India Breaks the World Record in the Daily Number of Covid-19 Cases

With 314,835 new cases in the last 24 hours, India left behind the highest number of daily cases in the US on January 8, while the total number of cases in the country was 15 million 924 thousand 806.

Maharashtra with 67 thousand 468 cases, Uttar Pradesh with 33 thousand 106, and Delhi with 24 thousand 638 were the regions and states with the highest daily increase in cases.

Experts warned that the health system was “at the point of collapse,” pointing out that the occupancy rates in hospitals saw the highest levels after increasing cases across the country.

Stating that the lack of oxygen cylinders, beds, and some essential medicines in Covid-19 treatment emerged in hospitals in the capital, New Delhi, health officials called on the central government, the state, to provide emergency assistance and remedy the deficiencies.

In a country with a population of approximately 1.4 billion, a widespread vaccination campaign against the disease is carried out.

The Ministry of Health of India announced that the number of vaccines administered in the country reached 132 million 330 thousand 644 doses.

According to the “Ourworldindata.org” website, where Covid-19 vaccination data were compiled, India became “the third country in the world with the most vaccines” after the USA and China.

In India, which is one of the countries to meet the new wave of the epidemic worldwide, it is estimated that the types of Covid-19 mutated and increased contagiousness are effective in the recent case increase.

Specifically, the three mutation species originating in South Africa, England, and Brazil are seen as concerns by experts. These virus mutations were detected in 7% of 11,000 virus samples in India, whose genetic sequence has been extracted since December 30, 2020.

The Airline Industry Expects $48 Billion in a Loss

The Airline Industry Expects $48 Billion in a Loss

The International Air Transport Association (IATA) increased its airline sector loss forecast for 2021 from $38 billion, announced in December, to $47.7 billion.

According to IATA, the figure translates to a net profit margin of -10.4%, which is an improvement compared to the estimated net industry loss of $126.4 billion last year (net profit margin of -33.9%).

IATA’s Director General Willie Walsh noted that government-imposed travel restrictions continued to dampen the “strong underlying demand” for international travel.

“This crisis is longer and deeper than anyone could have expected. Losses will be reduced from 2020, but the pain of the crisis increases. There is optimism in domestic markets where rebounds demonstrate aviation’s hallmark resilience in markets without internal travel restrictions,” Walsh said. Despite the expectation that 2.4 billion people will travel by air in 2021, IATA also predicted that companies would burn $81 billion in cash this year.

In the assessment, the revenue estimate for 2021 was 458 billion dollars. While the figure corresponds to 55% of $838 billion in 2019, the data was $372 billion in 2020.

Given the restrictions restricting passenger flights during the pandemic, many airlines have resorted to rising cargo hauls.

In this regard, according to the study, cargo will account for a third of industry revenues, which is more than double its average contribution of 10-15% of total revenues.

“Cargo has outperformed the passenger business throughout the crisis. That trend is expected to continue throughout 2021. Demand for cargo is expected to grow by 13.1% over 2020. This puts the cargo business in positive territory compared to pre-crisis levels (2020 saw a full-year decline of 9.1% compared to 2019).”

The substantial increase in cargo revenue, on the other hand, would not be enough to compensate for the sharp drop in passenger revenue.

Archegos Damage Assessment in Credit Suisse

Archegos Damage Assessment in Credit Suisse

Swiss Credit Suisse posted a loss of 252 million francs in the first quarter, below estimates. The bank announced a net profit of 1.31 billion francs in the same period last year.

The bank expects a loss of $654 million in the second quarter of the year due to the bankruptcy of the US hedge fund Archegos Capital.

The year started badly due to the bankruptcy of Credit Suisse, Archegos Capital, and British financial firm Greensill Capital. JP Morgan analysts predicted that both events would cost the bank $8.7 billion.

The bank announced that it sold more than $2 billion in shares last week to close the positions it took in Archegos and completed 97 percent of its related positions there. Lara Warner, head of the company’s risk management unit, and Brian Chin, head of investment banking, resigned after the losses.

The bank announced that it would increase its capital after these crises.

Swiss financial regulator, Finma, announced on Thursday that it had opened an investigation into Credit Suisse’s role in the Archegos crisis, in addition to its probe on Greensill, saying “various short-term measures to be put in place.”

“These include organizational and risk-reducing measures and capital surcharges as well as reductions in or suspensions of variable remuneration components,” it said.

“The loss we report this quarter, because of this matter, is unacceptable,” said Credit Suisse chief executive, Thomas Gottstein. “Together with the Board of Directors, we have taken significant steps to address this situation as well as the supply chain finance funds matter.”