While 4.2m Covid-19 deaths have been reported to the World Health Organization, a study by economist Ariel Karlinsky of Hebrew University of Jerusalem and research scientist Dmitry Kobak at the University of Tübingen, estimates there have been over 1m more deaths than reported by official death counts.
New York City will require proof of vaccination for a variety of indoor activities from dining to health clubs and concerts, mayor Bill de Blasio announced on Tuesday. The city is believed to be the first in the country to introduce such restrictions as it battles Covid-19’s more infectious Delta variant.
Ron DeSantis, Florida’s governor, said “hospital admissions have slowed” and should peak soon, after the latest data show record levels.The number of Covid-19 patients in the populous Miami-Dade and Jacksonville areas were “about half what they were during last summer’s wave,” he said.
Chicago has added five more states, including Georgia and Hawaii, to its travel advisory list owing to their high rates of coronavirus infections. The advisory requests unvaccinated travellers to obtain a negative Covid-19 test no more than 72 hours before arrival or undertake 10 days of quarantine.
Sweaty Betty, the British womenswear company that became a wardrobe favourite during the pandemic, has been sold to a US-based shoemaker. New York-listed Wolverine World Wide, a shoe specialist that owns Hush Puppies, said on Tuesday it had acquired the company in a deal worth $410m.
American and European consumers swapping out stay-at-home outfits for polo shirts and dresses helped boost Ralph Lauren’s quarterly results. Revenues at the retailer rose to $1.4bn in its fiscal first quarter ended June 26, from $487.5m a year ago, when sales plunged during lockdowns.
Microsoft followed Google in requiring workers and guests coming to its offices in the US to be vaccinated starting in September. Vaccine mandates from the big technology companies seek to protect workers from exposure to Covid-19 but risk provoking a backlash from some employees.
Clorox predicted weaker sales in the year ahead, as pandemic-fuelled demand for bleach and disinfectants subsides amid vaccinations against Covid-19. The company forecast that sales will drop 2 to 6 per cent in fiscal 2022. That was worse than the 1 per cent drop that analysts estimated.