South Asia Investor Review

With a score of 84.4, Pakistan ranks third among 50 countries tracked by the Economist magazine for return to pre-pandemic life. Pakistan's neighbor India has a score of 46.5, ranking it near the bottom in 48th position.  China (score 72.9) is 19th, United States (72.8) 20th, United Arab Emirates (68.9) 27th and United Kingdom (62.5) 36th. The global average for return to pre-pandemic activity is 66.6 on a scale of 0 to 100.  Top Performing Countries For Return to Pre-Pandemic Activity Level. Source: Economist Economist's Global Normalcy Index: The Economist magazine is tracking 50 countries for return to pre-pandemic activity level. Here is how it  explains it: "The global normalcy index plummeted in March 2020 as many countries imposed draconian restrictions on their citizens. It fell to just 35 in April 2020, before improving gradually over the following months. Today it stands at 66, suggesting that the world has travelled roughly half of the way back to pre- pandemic...

President Donald Trump has picked renowned Moroccan-born  Muslim American  immunologist Dr. Moncef Mohamed Slaoui to  lead  Operation Warp Speed, America's COVID-19 vaccine program. Trump has compared this vaccine effort with the Manhattan Project that developed the atomic bomb in the 1940s. Dr. Moncef Slaoui Dr. Slaoui is a highly recognized scientist and a successful leader who has delivered as GSK's head of vaccines. He appears to have more of a can-do entrepreneurial approach to solving problems. He has recently been running a life-sciences VC fund in Philadelphia. Announcing the appointment, Trump described Slaoui as “one of the most respected men in the world in the production and, really, on the formulation of vaccines.” “Operation Warp Speed’s chief scientist will be Dr Moncef Slaoui, a world-renowned immunologist who helped create 14 new vaccines,” Trump said at a White House news briefing. “That’s a lot of our new vaccines — in 10 years, during...

Can Pakistan's  88% BCG vaccination rate  against tuberculosis (TB) help reduce the impact of coronavirus? A New York Institute of Technology study using data from 178 countries has concluded that both the incidence and mortality of  COVID-19   are significantly lower in countries with BCG vaccination programs against TB. Will this study help prove  Dawn News' alarming forecast  of over 2 million confirmed cases by June 1 and 20 million actual infections wrong? Pakistan's Dawn News Coronavirus Forecast The study has found that the coronavirus has hit US and Italy which do not have universal BCG vaccination programs much harder than countries like Japan which do.  Scientists say it will take several months to get results from ongoing trials testing the BCG vaccine against COVID-19. TB Vaccine May Lower Death Rates From COVID-19. Source: NYIT College of Osteopathic Medicine   Scientists have speculated that BCG vaccine may bo...