{"id":3229,"date":"2021-12-01T10:17:23","date_gmt":"2021-12-01T10:17:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/new.contentdeployment.co.uk\/tomd\/2021\/12\/01\/news-in-review-33\/"},"modified":"2022-07-05T14:10:06","modified_gmt":"2022-07-05T13:10:06","slug":"news-in-review-33","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/new.contentdeployment.co.uk\/tomd\/2021\/12\/01\/news-in-review-33\/","title":{"rendered":"News in Review"},"content":{"rendered":"
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\u201cWe need to\nbolster our protections against this new variant\u201d<\/em><\/strong><\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n

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F<\/strong>ollowing the discovery of the\nCOVID-19 Omicron variant on UK shores, <\/strong>Boris Johnson took to the Downing Street podium on Saturday to announce\n“temporary and precautionary”<\/em> measures to contain the spread\nof the variant.<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n

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First detected in South Africa last Wednesday and labelled a \u2018variant of concern\u2019<\/em> by the World Health Organization, early evidence suggests Omicron has a higher reinfection risk. The Prime Minister commented, “Our scientists are learning more hour by hour, and it does appear that Omicron spreads very rapidly and can be spread between people who are double vaccinated.”<\/em> He added, \u201cWe need to bolster our protections against this new variant\u2026 measures at the border can only ever minimise and delay the arrival of a new variant rather than stop it all together.”<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n

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Added to the \u2018Red List\u2019 last Thursday, South Africa, Botswana,\nNamibia, Zimbabwe, Lesotho and Eswatini have since been joined by Angola,\nZambia, Malawi and Mozambique. In addition, PCR tests have been introduced for\neveryone entering the UK (test by the end of the second day following arrival\nand self-isolate until a negative result) and all contacts of new variant cases\nmust self-isolate for ten days, even if fully vaccinated. From Tuesday, face coverings became mandatory again in shops, on public\ntransport and other inside settings in England; and the booster\nprogramme will be rapidly extended, including offering boosters to all over 18s\nin the UK and reducing the gap between second doses and boosters. During a\nbriefing on Tuesday, Boris Johnson confirmed that all adults will be offered a\nbooster jab by the end of January. As with other stages of the vaccine rollout,\npeople will be worked through by age group.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n

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The new measures are due to be reviewed in three weeks, by which time better information will be available on the effectiveness of vaccines.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n

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Markets react <\/strong><\/strong><\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n

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Global stock markets\nfaltered last week, as concerns intensified over the impact\nof the variant on global economic growth, with shares in airlines and travel\nfirms hit particularly hard. Oil prices were also sharply lower but regained\nsome ground. The Organisation of the Petroleum\nExporting Countries and its allies (OPEC+) postponed technical meetings\nto later this week, giving themselves more time to assess the impact of the\nvariant on oil demand and prices. Stock markets regained\nsome ground this week but remain tentative, as investors closely assess the\nthreat of the variant. <\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n

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Bumper\nBlack Friday spending to beat last two years<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n

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Consumer spending on Black Friday (26 November) is expected to surpass\nsales figures from the past two years, according to analysts. Barclaycard,\nwhich processes around a third of all card transactions, said that spending was\nup 23% on last year and 2.4% up on 2019 by 5pm GMT, while financial analysts\nPwC predicted that Friday\u2019s total spend would be \u00a38.7bn \u2013 double that spent\nduring last year\u2019s November lockdown. <\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n

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Black Friday, originally a US event, may officially be just one day, but\nmost retailers use extended periods to entice shoppers with heavy discounts in\nthe run-up to Christmas. After last year\u2019s disappointing turnout, it is very\nmuch hoped that Black Friday\u2019s strong start will continue into the festive\nseason.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n

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The spending figures perhaps reflect a desire on the part of UK shoppers\nto get their Christmas shopping done early, with this year\u2019s sales set against\na backdrop of international shipping issues and a UK-wide HGV driver shortage.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n

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UK car\noutput sinks to 65-year low<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n

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A shortage of computer chips has been blamed for the lowest car\nproduction level in over six decades this October. Production fell by 41%\nmonth-on-month, a situation which Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders\n(SMMT) Chief Executive Mike Hawes called \u201cextremely worrying\u201d<\/em>. The\nsemiconductor shortage, compounded by the closure of a Honda manufacturing\nplant in Swindon in 2020, has resulted in the fourth consecutive month of\ndecline. <\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n

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There are some positives, however. The production of electronic and hybrid\nvehicles continues apace ahead of the government\u2019s ban on petrol and diesel\ncars by 2030, with production of battery electric cars rising by 17.5% to 8,454\ncars in October. In total, UK car manufacturers have built over 50,000\nzero-emission vehicles in 2021, according to SMMT figures. <\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n

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Here to help<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n

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Financial advice is key, so please do not hesitate to get in contact\nwith any questions or concerns you may have.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n

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The value of investments can go down as well\nas up and you may not get back the full amount you invested. The past is not a\nguide to future performance and past performance may not necessarily be\nrepeated.<\/strong><\/strong><\/p>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\u201cWe need to bolster our protections against this new variant\u201d Following the discovery of the COVID-19 Omicron variant on UK shores, Boris Johnson took to the Downing Street podium on Saturday to announce “temporary and precautionary” measures to contain the spread of the variant. First detected in South Africa last Wednesday and labelled a \u2018variant of concern\u2019 […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":12,"featured_media":3291,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[32,112],"tags":[],"hd_content_source":[116],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/new.contentdeployment.co.uk\/tomd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3229"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/new.contentdeployment.co.uk\/tomd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/new.contentdeployment.co.uk\/tomd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.contentdeployment.co.uk\/tomd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/12"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.contentdeployment.co.uk\/tomd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3229"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/new.contentdeployment.co.uk\/tomd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3229\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3293,"href":"https:\/\/new.contentdeployment.co.uk\/tomd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3229\/revisions\/3293"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.contentdeployment.co.uk\/tomd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/3291"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/new.contentdeployment.co.uk\/tomd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3229"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.contentdeployment.co.uk\/tomd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3229"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.contentdeployment.co.uk\/tomd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3229"},{"taxonomy":"hd_content_source","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.contentdeployment.co.uk\/tomd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/hd_content_source?post=3229"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}