Cobus Loots, CEO of Pan African Resources, on delivering sector-leading returns for shareholders. Watch the video here.
JoeNinety,
The following is from the Saga website - I hope it helps.
See: Https://travel.saga.co.uk/travel-updates/cruise-coronavirus-vaccine.aspx
Q: Will crew and other staff aboard the ships also have the vaccine?
A: Our focus in the first instance is on our guests and ensuring all of them have been vaccinated, we have comprehensive COVID-19 protocols in place to protect our crew, including quarantine and regular testing and as soon as crew can be vaccinated they will be.
According to today’s Daily Telegraph, their projections suggest that vaccinations are fully on track to hit both the first target for JCVI Groups 1-4 (15 million) by February 14th and Groups 1-9 (32 million) by March 31st.
Their projection also sees the adult population (53m) being vaccinated by May 25th.
Also, keep an eye on the news tomorrow - we are likely to see a headline stating that 100 million doses have been given globally.
See: https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/coronavirus-uk-cases-deaths-world-map-live/?icid=editorial_editorial_inarticlelink_inarticle_CoronavirusEmbed
Today's UK and global vaccination update for those interested.
A record 609,010 vaccinations were given in the UK yesterday. Huge congratulations to the wonderful NHS and all others involved.
598,389 additional people in the UK were newly vaccinated on Saturday, giving a total of 8,977,329 vaccinated, potential Saga travel customers. These fine people will be ready to roll by May 25th at the absolute latest. This is calculated as the second jab date plus 14 days for those receiving their first jab only on Saturday – so the vast majority will be ready way before this date.
Indeed, 491,053 had already received their second jab by Saturday.
Further updates coming from Bloomberg regarding the biggest vaccination campaign in history.
More than 94.4 million doses in 62 countries have been administered, according to data collected by Bloomberg. The latest rate was roughly 4.47 million doses a day, on average.
It is becoming clear that the end of the economically restricting period of this pandemic is getting nearer with every day of this astonishing global progress.
Today's UK and global vaccination update for those interested.
487,756 additional people in the UK were vaccinated on Friday, giving a total of 8,378,940 vaccinated, potential Saga travel customers. These fine people will be ready to roll by May 24th at the absolute latest. This is calculated as the second jab date plus 14 days for those receiving their first jab only on Friday – so the vast majority will be ready way before this date. Indeed, 480,432 had already received their second jab by Friday.
Further updates coming from Bloomberg regarding the biggest vaccination campaign in history.
More than 90.8 million doses in 62 countries have been administered, according to data collected by Bloomberg. The latest rate was roughly 4.39 million doses a day, on average.
Today's UK and global vaccination update for those interested.
414,419 additional people in the UK were vaccinated on Thursday, giving a total of 7,891,184 vaccinated, potential Saga travel customers. These fine people will be ready to roll by May 23rd at the absolute latest. This is calculated as the second jab date plus 14 days for those receiving their first jab only on Thursday – so the vast majority will be ready way before this date.
Indeed, 478,254 had already received their second jab by Thursday.
Further updates coming from Bloomberg regarding the biggest vaccination campaign in history.
More than 87.1 million doses in 60 countries have been administered, according to data collected by Bloomberg. The latest rate was roughly 4.19 million doses a day, on average.
The end of the economically restricting period of this pandemic is getting nearer with every day.
Happily, in a few short weeks from now, reciprocal travel corridors seem set to swing open between these territories once again …
Https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2021/01/28/pfizer-vaccine-92-per-cent-effective-say-israeli-researchers/
First official vaccine results from Israel show Pfizer jabs offer substantial protection from Covid
Major study finds minimal infections of Covid among vaccinated Israelis compared to control group
By James Rothwell JERUSALEM 28 January 2021 • 2:54pm
Israel has announced that less than 0.04 per cent of patients who received two doses of the Pfizer vaccine have developed Covid, as it released its first official results on the world's fastest inoculations drive.
According to the Israeli health ministry, only 317 of 715,425 patients caught coronavirus after they were fully vaccinated against the disease.
The data is the strongest indication so far that the Pfizer vaccine offers substantial protection against Covid once both jabs have been administered. Some previous surveys have found similar results but relied on smaller sample sizes.
A separate study by Maccabi, an Israeli healthcare provider, also found that the Pfizer vaccines were at least 92 per cent effective, after comparing samples of vaccinated and unvaccinated citizens.
“This is very, very good news,” Anat Ekka Zohar, Maccabi’s lead vaccines analyst, told the Times of Israel on Thursday. “It is the first study in the world that looks at such a large number of fully vaccinated patients.”
“It’s a very high level of efficiency and we are seeing a very low percentage of coronavirus among the patients who have taken both shots,” she added.
Israel, the world’s fastest vaccinator against Covid, has already given the first of two jabs to nearly a third of its population.
Today's UK and global vaccination update for those interested.
282,812 additional people in the UK were vaccinated on Wednesday, giving a total of 7,447,199 vaccinated, potential Saga travel customers. These fine people will be ready to roll by May 22nd at the absolute latest. This is calculated as the second jab date plus 14 days for those receiving their first jab only on Wednesday – so the vast majority will be ready way before this date. Indeed, 476,298 had already received their second jab by Wednesday.
Further updates coming from Bloomberg regarding the biggest vaccination campaign in history.
More than 82.5 million doses in 59 countries have been administered, according to data collected by Bloomberg. The latest rate was roughly 3.95 million doses a day, on average.
The end of the economically restricting period of this pandemic is getting nearer with every day.
Today's UK and global vaccination update for those interested.
311,060 additional people in the UK were vaccinated on Tuesday, giving a total of 7,164,387 vaccinated, potential Saga travel customers. These fine people will be ready to roll by May 21st at the absolute latest. This is calculated as the second jab date plus 14 days for those receiving their first jab only on Tuesday – so the vast majority will be ready way before this date. Indeed, 474,156 had already received their second jab by Tuesday.
Further updates coming from Bloomberg regarding the biggest vaccination campaign in history.
More than 71.3 million doses in 57 countries have been administered, according to data collected by Bloomberg. The latest rate was roughly 3.57 million doses a day, on average.
The end of the economically restricting period of this pandemic is getting nearer with every day.
Some specific musings on the first of Saga's cruises set to sail - this seems a key indicator to observe over the weeks ahead.
Saga customers booked on that cruise - The Inaugural Cruise to Copenhagen, St Petersburg, Tallinn, Stockholm and Aalborg - obviously seem rather confident that it will go ahead.
The booked occupancy rate on 12th Jan was 63.1%. This cruise was re-routed and reset for its May departure date this time last week. Since then the occupancy rate dropped slightly before settling to 62.5% today.
There are currently 300 pax (147 twin cabins and 6 singles) left available to be booked on this cruise departure. I'd imagine that these will get rapidly filled during March & April as visibility improves on travel.
Between now and then most travel news will seem bleak which is fine for companies like Saga that have no travel planned until May, but logic dictates that news-flow on travel will surely improve toward Spring as the vaccine programs march onwards.
That's one reason amongst many why I remain a buyer of this stock.
Today's UK and global vaccination update for those interested.
279,757 additional people in the UK were vaccinated on Monday, giving a total of 6,853,327 vaccinated, potential Saga travel customers. These fine people will be ready to roll by May 20th at the absolute latest. This is calculated as the second jab date plus 14 days for those receiving their first jab only on Monday – so the vast majority will be ready way before this date. Indeed, 472,446 had already received their second jab by Monday.
Further updates coming from Bloomberg regarding the biggest vaccination campaign in history.
More than 68.1 million doses in 56 countries have been administered, according to data collected by Bloomberg. The latest rate was roughly 3.44 million doses a day, on average.
Today's UK and global vaccination update for those interested.
220,249 additional people in the UK were vaccinated on Sunday, giving a total of 6,573,570 vaccinated, potential Saga travel customers. These fine people will be ready to roll by May 19th at the absolute latest. This is calculated as the second jab date plus 14 days for those receiving their first jab only on Sunday – so the vast majority will be ready way before this date. Indeed, 470,478 had already received their second jab by Sunday.
Further updates coming from Bloomberg regarding the biggest vaccination campaign in history.
More than 65.7 million doses in 56 countries have been administered, according to data collected by Bloomberg. The latest rate was roughly 3.37 million doses a day, on average.
The end of the economically restricting period of this pandemic is getting nearer with every day.
Travel restrictions today are clearly bad news for travel companies trying to offer travel today and airlines trying to fly today.
As a Saga shareholder, I'll only be concerned if such restrictions are in place from May onwards when we are trying to offer travel .
I'm more than happy for the strongest possible restrictions to be in place during this winter to accelerate progress against the pandemic well before Spring.
Sometimes the way our markets work make me laugh. Especially when my monthly top-up coincides with these happy events as per this morning. :)
Today's UK and global vaccination update for those interested.
491,970 additional people in the UK were vaccinated on Saturday (again, the highest daily total to date), giving a total of 6,353,321 vaccinated, potential Saga travel customers. These fine people will be ready to roll by May 18th at the absolute latest. This is calculated as the second jab date plus 14 days for those receiving their first jab only on Saturday – so the vast majority will be ready way before this date. Indeed, 469,660 had already received their second jab by Saturday.
Huge congratulations to the wonderful NHS and all others involved.
Further updates coming from Bloomberg regarding the biggest vaccination campaign in history.
More than 63 million doses in 56 countries have been administered, according to data collected by Bloomberg. The latest rate was roughly 3.21 million doses a day, on average.
The end of the economically restricting period of this pandemic is getting nearer with every day.
Covid-blocking nasal spray could be in chemists by summer
hTTps://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2021/01/23/covid-blocking-nasal-spray-could-chemists-summer/
Extract
A nasal spray which can prevent a coronavirus infection for up to two days could be available in high street pharmacies by the summer, researchers have said.
Scientists at the University of Birmingham have been developing the spray since April last year and are currently in discussions with shops and pharmaceutical giants on the next steps to mass produce it. ...
The nasal spray, which has not yet been named, is made from ingredients that are already approved for medical use, meaning it is safe for use by humans and does not require further approval.
The formula helps prevent infection by capturing the virus in the nose and encapsulating it in a coating which it cannot escape from. As a result, it would be safe for a person to breathe out - even if inhaled by another person - because the virus would be inactive and harmless.
In November last year, the researchers announced that laboratory experiments showed the spray prevented a coronavirus infection from spreading for up to 48 hours.
The team believes using the spray four times a day would be enough for general protection, although it is safe enough to be applied every 20 minutes if in a high-risk, densely populated environment such as schools. ...
Last year Professor Liam Grover, the study's co-author, said: "Although our noses filter thousands of litres of air each day, there is not much protection from infection and most airborne viruses are transmitted via the nasal passage.
“The spray we have formulated delivers that protection but can also prevent the virus being passed from person to person."
Are these updates useful? If they are annoying anyone, please let me know and I'll stop them.
478,248 additional people in the UK were vaccinated on Friday (the highest daily total to date), giving a total of 5,861,351 vaccinated, potential Saga travel customers. These fine people will be ready to roll by May 17th at the absolute latest. This is calculated as the second jab date plus 14 days for those receiving their first jab only on Friday – so the vast majority will be ready way before this date. Indeed, 468,617 had already received their second jab by Friday.
Further updates from Bloomberg.
More than 60.3 million doses in 55 countries have been administered, according to data collected by Bloomberg. The latest rate was roughly 2.95 million doses a day, on average.
363,508 additional people in the UK were vaccinated on Wednesday, giving a total of 4,973,248 vaccinated, potential Saga travel customers. These fine people will be ready to roll by May 15th at the absolute latest. This is calculated as the second jab date plus 14 days for those receiving their first jab only on Wednesday – so the vast majority will be ready way before this date. Indeed, 464,036 had already received their second jab by Wednesday.
The greatest thing is that these totals are only going to go up every single day - what a superb position to be in.
Further updates coming from Bloomberg regarding the biggest vaccination campaign in history.
More than 56.7 million doses in 52 countries have been administered, according to data collected by Bloomberg. The latest rate was roughly 2.85 million doses a day, on average.
The end of the economically restricting period of this pandemic is getting nearer with every day.
Yet more good coverage of the story at lunchtime on BBC One South East News.
If Roger's trying to keep the good news quiet for the sneaky takeover suspected by some (and not by me), he's going a funny way about it. :)
I was musing this morning about how good a fit with Saga’s typical cruise demographic the new 2-dose vaccination requirement may prove to be.
Assuming that:
1. the Saga cruise demographic is broadly 65 and above;
2. that 2 doses plus 14 days is the acceptance criteria;
3. the first 3 months of cruises aboard Spirit of Adventure comprises 2 departures in May, 3 in June and 2 in July;
4. the first 2 months of cruises aboard Spirit of Discovery comprises 2 departures in June and 2 in July;
5. a reduced capacity of guests onboard to a maximum of 800.
That means that Saga merely need to find 11 x 800 = 8800 passengers that wish to cruise before August 2021.
What do we know for sure so far?
343,163 additional people in the UK were vaccinated on Tuesday giving a total of 4,609,740 vaccinated up to the 19th Jan.
Those in this group of 4,609,740 people will ALL have had their 2nd doses at the latest 12 weeks from 19th Jan, so will qualify for Saga cruises (if they are also over the age of 50) at the latest by May 7 including the 2 weeks added as required.
Within that group we also know (due to published data) that 460,625 of these people have already had their second doses.
These are exceptionally large groups out of which to find just 8800 potential cruise customers.
Saga have played a blinder here and the massive publicity is a huge additional bonus.
On the program called Rip-Off Britain - don't worry about the title, it was all good:
Angela Rippon, whilst holding to camera a newspaper page with two colour pictures, one of "Dazzling Danube: A Saga river ship in Austria's Wachau Valley", the other of "Drop anchor: A Saga ship in Malta":
"All of the papers are reporting that cruises could be sailing once again for those that have been vaccinated. 'Cruises back ... if you've had a jab' says The Mail and it follows cruise operator Saga's announcement that it plans to resume its river cruises in May and its ocean cruises in June.
Now the government is still advertising against cruising but Saga meanwhile says that there will be a blanket 'No to boarding' if you haven't had both injections. I think that's going to be good news for people."