Day: April 26, 2022

Tesla lost $126 billion in value on Tuesday amid investor concerns that Chief Executive Elon Musk may have to sell shares to fund his $21 billion equity contribution to his $44 billion buyout of Twitter.

Tesla is not involved in the Twitter deal, yet its shares have been targeted by speculators after Musk declined to disclose publicly where his cash for the acquisition of Twitter is coming from. The 12.2% drop in Tesla’s shares on Tuesday equated to a $21 billion drop in the value of his Tesla stake, the same as the $21 billion in cash he committed to the Twitter deal.

Wedbush Securities analyst Daniel Ives said that worries about upcoming stock sales by Musk and the possibility that he is becoming distracted by Twitter weighed on Tesla shares.

“This (is) causing a bear festival on the name,” Ives said.

Tesla did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

To be sure, Tesla’s share plunge came against a challenging backdrop for many technology-related stocks. The Nasdaq closed at its lowest level since December 2020 on Tuesday, as investors worried about slowing global growth and more aggressive rate hikes from the U.S. Federal Reserve.

Twitter’s shares also slid on Tuesday, falling 3.9% to close at $49.68 even though Musk agreed to buy it on Monday for $54.20 per share in cash. The widening spread reflects investor concern that the precipitous decline in Tesla’s shares, from which Musk derives most of his $239 billion fortune, could lead the world’s richest person to have second thoughts about the Twitter deal.

“If Tesla’s share price continues to remain in freefall that will jeopardize his financing,” said OANDA senior market analyst Ed Moya.

As part of the Tesla deal, Musk also took out a $12.5 billion margin loan tied to his Tesla stock. He had already borrowed against about half of his Tesla shares.

University of Maryland professor David Kirsch, whose research focuses on innovation and entrepreneurship, said investors started to worry about a “cascade of margin calls” on Musk’s loans.

Source: Voice of America

The world marks World Malaria Day, whose theme this year is “Harness innovation to reduce the malaria disease burden and save lives”.

In the People’s Democratic Republic, a blend of traditional and innovative, evidence-based approaches is helping the country move closer to eliminating all malaria by 2030 and the deadliest strain by 2023.

Malaria now affects only a very small proportion of the population of Laos, mostly in ethnic minority communities in remote, forested areas. Epidemiological investigations have found transmission most likely when people sleep overnight in the forest or cultivation fields or stay in villages on the edge of the forest. Evenings and nights are when mosquitoes infected with malaria parasites are most likely to bite, including those infected with P. falciparum, which causes the most severe illness.

A relatively small number of communities – 60 villages, with 24,000 people – face the highest risk for malaria transmissions, reporting 68% (1,851/2,728) of all P. falciparum cases in January 2020 – October 2021.

To work toward zero malaria, especially that caused by P.falciparum in these highest-risk communities, the government of Laos accelerator strategies include activities tailored to the local context, and informed by local data and disease patterns. The national malaria programme is supported by the Lao Country Office of the World Health Organization (WHO) and WHO’s Mekong Malaria Elimination (MME) Programme.

These comprise complementary approaches – innovation and traditional public health tools:

Innovative approaches:

Two rounds of mass drug administration are given to everyone aged 7-49 years to kill any malaria parasites in the body. This method treats people with malaria who do not have symptoms as well as those with symptoms. With a high coverage of the medication, the malaria parasite is cleared from the community, eliminating the reservoir of malaria infection.

Monthly intermittent preventive treatment is then provided to people who sleep overnight in the forest or fields. This protects people from being reinfected with malaria parasites while they are in the high-risk areas.

Traditional malaria control tools

People in the communities are provided with insecticide-treated bed nets for all sleeping locations – village, forest and cultivation fields.

Active surveillance includes door-to-door visits to screen and test people with symptoms every two weeks to ensure that any cases of malaria are detected promptly.

Community engagement is conducted at all levels including advocacy from senior political leaders to community leaders and health education delivered by the village malaria worker during door-to-door visits every two weeks.

The accelerator strategy was adopted after a pilot project was conducted in 2020 in Khammuan Province, targeting 5 of the 60 highest-risk villages with approximately 1,200 people. The impact was impressive, with a 95% reduction in malaria cases during the peak malaria season in 2021 compared to the year before.

In March 2022, the first round of mass drug administration was completed in the remaining 55 target villages with a high coverage estimated at 85%. The second round started in April to end before the peak malaria season.

The programme follows the Lao PDR’s investment in malaria data management systems that have ensured the country can effectively identify and respond to malaria cases. Read more about Lao PDR’s data-driven approach to eliminating malaria.

WHO Representative to Laos, Dr Ying-Ru Jacqueline Lo said “World Malaria Day was an opportunity to acknowledge the strong political support, governance and community ownership that were key to the programme’s success – despite responding to the COVID-19 pandemic.”

“In the Lao PDR, political leadership at all levels has been strong and impressive, including provincial and district political leaders joining activities in the communities. Community engagement and participation has been excellent. We have seen this in many ways including that people have walked long distances from their cultivation fields back to their villages to participate in the programme and benefit from its protection,” Dr Lo added.

Source: Lao News Agency

Beijing has begun mass COVID-19 testing most of its 21 million residents amid fears the Chinese capital will be placed under a strict lockdown similar to the one imposed on Shanghai.

Authorities expanded testing across 11 districts Tuesday after launching the mass testing drive in Beijing’s most populous district of Chaoyang on Monday.

Beijing went on alert last week after 10 middle school students tested positive for COVID-19, sparking widespread panic buying across Beijing Sunday in anticipation of a possible citywide lockdown. Long queues were seen in supermarkets in the city center, as shoppers snapped up rice, noodles, vegetables and other produce, while store workers hastily restocked some empty shelves.

Officials have urged residents in some neighborhoods to work from home, and have started closing some venues such as gyms and theaters.

So far, only 70 positive cases have been reported since last week, including 33 new cases on Tuesday.

Meanwhile, Shanghai continues to struggle to contain an outbreak of new COVID-19 cases largely driven by the highly contagious omicron variant, with many of its 26 million residents still under orders to remain indoors. The lockdown has led to angry complaints of a lack of fresh food and medicine throughout China’s biggest city.

Shanghai reported well over 10,000 new coronavirus infections and at least 51 deaths on Tuesday.

Source: Voice of America