Local update
As young Islanders return to education this week, vaccine statistics show that 44% of 16- to 17-year-olds have had their first dose in the space of a month. The age group first became eligible for the vaccine on 5 August, with Health Minister Richard Renouf saying it was ‘heartening to see that young people are playing their part and protecting themselves and their loved ones’.
84% of Islanders aged over 18 are now fully vaccinated, according to the latest statistics, with 149,748 doses administered in total – 76,630 first doses and 73,118 second doses.
Deputy Renouf said: ‘They’ve seen their grandparents and parents receive the vaccination and are now coming forward for their turn. I’d like to thank them for taking the time out of their summer holidays to ensure they can return to school and college safely.’
Becky Sherrington, who is head of the Island’s vaccination programme, said there had been a ‘really positive uptake’ from eligible 16- to 17-year-olds. She said: ‘This is fantastic news. It means that these young people can return to school, clubs and hobbies with an extra measure of protection. In doing so, they’re also helping to protect their more vulnerable peers, and the Island community as a whole. ’She added: ‘I would also like to remind Islanders who are severely immunocompromised [having a weakened immune system] that the vaccination team is working with specialist teams at the Hospital to make contact with Islanders shortly who are in this group.
Anyone identified as a direct contact of someone with Covid -19 will be offered lateral flow testing kits to use at home, the Government has said. The equipment will allow islanders aged 12 and above to test themselves for 10 days in a row and will be given out when a person receives a PCR test at the Harbour. Household contacts and critical service workers have been supplied with the kits in recent weeks but all direct contacts will now be offered them as well. The Lateral flow tests give results within 20 to 30 minutes but are not considered as reliable as PCR tests.
Dr Ivan Muscat .deputy director of Health said The tests are designed for rapid results and are simple enough to be done at home. Lateral flow tests can quickly identify Covid -19 infections especially if an individual is highly infectious . The Tests are proving particularly efficient at detecting the Delta variant. By offering all direct contacts these tests we can ensure that the new virus remains more manageable within our island community. Those using the lateral flow tests can submit their results via an on line portal to add to the islands data base of information. If someone receives a positive result from one of the home kits they must go into isolation immediately and call the Covid help line.
As of today there are 236 islanders with Covid-19 with no one in Hospital.
Mixed markets
FTSE 100 has recovered modestly from Thursday’s close. FTSE 100 is currently trading at 7050.79, up 0.38 percent over previous close of 7024.21. At this level, the benchmark is 2.35 percent below the 52-week high of 7220.14. A total of 32 scrips in the 101-scrip index are still trading lower than Thursday’s levels.
European markets are mixed. The DAX is higher by 0.06%, while the CAC 40 is leading the FTSE 100 lower. They are down 0.43% and 0.07% respectively.
U.S. stock index futures pointed to gains on Wall Street today, potentially halting a four day string of losses. Dow Jones Industrial Average futures climbed nearly 160 points, or 0.5%, to 34,912, S&P 500 futures gained 18.25 points, or 0.4%, to 4,501.25, whilst Nasdaq-100 futures rose 65.50 points, or 0.4%, to 15,616.
Asian markets finished mixed as of the most recent closing prices. The Shanghai Composite gained 1.14%, while the Nikkei 225 led the Hang Seng lower. They fell 2.07% and 0.27% respectively.
Tennerfest scaling down
Due to a lack of staff and supplier issues, one of Jersey’s most popular food festivals, The Tennerfest, has been scaled back this year, with many regulars unable to participate.
The annual promotion runs from 1 October to 11 November and enables local businesses to offer set menus at reduced prices. Organisers have pleaded with islanders to please support their restaurants.
June Ozanne, the director of Hamilton Brooke said it was an ‘incredibly challenging’ time for the industry, but that this year’s Tennerfest would still provide diners with ‘superb value’ across a number of outlets.
This time of year has been better for the island compared to last year, however the hospitality industry still faces big challenges from Covid, Brexit and difficulties relating to supply, pricing and staff. Therefore, the local restaurants need the support more than ever, in order to preserve the array of wonderful dining opportunities that are on the island.
Deadline for foreign fishing licence
The deadline for French fishermen to submit information, in order to be issued licences to continue working the island’s waters is drawing closer and closer.
Earlier this year, dozens of French boats blocked the port of St Helier in protest of the new post-Brexit system that gave Jersey sole power to issue fishing licenses for its waters.
An initial deadline of 30 April was set for applications to be completed. This has been extended twice and is now set for 30 September.
Senator Gorst has said: ‘We do need to push to get the relevant information to issue the licences. The fishing community in Jersey has been frustrated for months and the fishing community in France just wants it resolved. It’s still too early to say whether we can quite get it done in the timescale that we have set ourselves. But we really hope we can.’
UK economy comes to a grinding halt
According to figures from the Office for National Statistics, the UK’s bounceback from the pandemic has slowed to a near standstill, pushing the country into a new phase of recovery.
Gross domestic product (GDP) rose by just 0.1% in July, a significant slowdown from 1% in June, and far off the 0.5% that economists had predicted.
Ed Monk, associate director at Fidelity International, has warned that the full impact of supply chain bottlenecks will not show up in the July figures, which means this will get worse before they get better.
Just as the UK economy should be getting back to normal – with oil and gas – it seems that the disruptions to supply chains and other shortages mean recovery has come to a grinding halt.
According to the ONS deputy national statistician for economic statistics Jonathan Athow said: “The service sector saw no growth overall with growth in IT, financial services and outdoor events – which could operate more fully in July – offsetting large falls in retail and law firms.”
International students generate huge economic gains
According to research, one year’s intake of students from outside the EU, studying at British universities, generates economic activity worth £390 for each person in the UK each year, rising to more than £700 for every inhabitant of London.
After costs of teaching support and their use of public services had been accounted for, in total, the 272,000 students outside the UK who began higher education in 2018-2019 would generate close to £26bn in net economic activity
That translates to generating £1m of net economic impact during the studies of just 10 international students arriving from outside the EU.
This data comes from an analysis of the UK economic income generated by each group of international students, including EU students, from tuition and other expenses, and the subsequent multiplier effect on the economy in terms of job creation and other expenses.
The research, published by the Higher Education Policy Institute (Hepi) and Universities UK International (UUKI), estimates that Sheffield Central benefits from nearly 3,000 students to the tune of £290m, and Nottingham South by £261m for each year’s worth of students.