Cases of swine flu in Kuwait expected to surge

KUWAIT CITY // The government has delayed the opening of public schools and rushed through the completion of a new laboratory for infectious diseases in two new measures this week to combat the spread of swine flu. The minister of education, Moudhi al Humoud, said after a cabinet meeting on Monday that high schools will begin on September 27, followed by middle schools, and Grades Four and Five on October 4 and Grades One to Three on October 18, the state news agency reported. The decision was based on a proposal by a committee comprising the ministries of health and education.

Ms al Humoud said the time will be used to prepare clinics and isolation rooms in the schools and for providing materials for cleaning and sterilisation. The schools' nurses and teachers will also be trained to prepare for the pupils' return. The postponement comes after growing pressure from members of parliament to delay the opening of schools after their summer break because of the large increase in the number of people infected with the H1N1 virus, known as swine flu, in Kuwait. Last week, the ministry of health reported that 443 new cases were registered in just one week, bringing the country's total number of infections since the beginning of April to 1,779, with five deaths.

Private schools have already begun classes after their summer breaks though with reduced attendance. Some schools are reported to have bought infrared cameras to help detect infected students; two cases of children with swine flu have been confirmed, though it is unclear if they were caught by the new scanners. In Saudi Arabia, a neighbouring country, more cases of swine flu have been recorded than anywhere else in the region, with 3,500 infections and 26 deaths. Saudi Arabia's population of 27 million people is nine times greater than Kuwait's population of three million, so proportionately, Kuwait's swine flu problem looks much worse.

The director of Kuwait's Infectious Diseases Hospital, Jamal al Duaij, said Kuwait is reporting its results honestly, though there have been problems in how the country has responded to the spread of the disease. "I thought that in Saudi Arabia the situation would be worse, but they are not telling." He said Kuwait has an official spokesman who has to report infections accurately while some other Gulf countries adjust their results to match political agendas.

Dr al Duaij said his staff was under huge pressure when the number of patients they were receiving every day shot up to 300 from about 50 after the outbreak of the disease in mid-June. He said all of the other hospitals in Kuwait tried to avoid treating the disease by sending all their patients to the Infectious Diseases Hospital. To deal with the extra workload, he cancelled summer leave and started a programme of "household management" in which the hospital gives medication and instructions to the patients and tells them to recover at home.

He said the minister of health, Hilal al Sayer, passed a resolution on August 24 which "demanded all of the health sector get involved in the problem" by treating patients locally and only sending the worst cases to the Infectious Diseases Hospital. The new resolution eased the pressure on the hospital by reducing the number of cases they received per day to 100 from 300. Dr al Duaij said the hospital was still so busy that it had to stop taking new cases for several hours on three separate occasions and ask that they be treated in their local hospitals.

The hospital's protocols divide infected people into three groups. In group one, people with influenza-like symptoms who are low risk should take paracetamol and rest at home. Group two patients, with such risk factors as pregnancy, diabetes or youth should seek treatment at their local hospitals. Only those in the third, high-risk group, such as people with chest pains, should seek treatment in the Infectious Diseases Hospital.

When he passed the new resolution, Dr al Sayer also established a new laboratory in the Infectious Diseases Hospital to test swabs for diseases. The laboratory opened this week. Before, Dr al Duaij said that because of slow procedures, samples could take up to four days to return from the Central Virology Laboratory in another part of the country and "this was putting a big pressure on us". Despite some initial setbacks, the lab is now running. "We're processing samples. It's the early stages and there are still things to be done," said Husam Osman, an adviser to the ministry of health from Britain's Royal College of Pathologists who is working on establishing the lab. He said issues relating to the management of the lab needed more work.

"We're getting about 100 to 150 samples a day. We have a capacity to do 250 per day, but that can go up," he said. "Hopefully, we will be able to get results on the same day, or the next day max. It will speed up things for the management of patients." Mr Osman said the lab was currently recruiting 10 to 12 biologists and lab technicians because the World Health Organisation expected cases of swine flu to spike after the Haj and after schools resume classes, especially in the winter. "Everybody expects the worst is still to come," he said.

jcalderwood@thenational.ae

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Friday, January 12: Six fourball matches
Saturday, January 13: Six foursome (alternate shot) matches
Sunday, January 14: 12 singles

Our legal advisor

Ahmad El Sayed is Senior Associate at Charles Russell Speechlys, a law firm headquartered in London with offices in the UK, Europe, the Middle East and Hong Kong.

Experience: Commercial litigator who has assisted clients with overseas judgments before UAE courts. His specialties are cases related to banking, real estate, shareholder disputes, company liquidations and criminal matters as well as employment related litigation.

Education: Sagesse University, Beirut, Lebanon, in 2005.

Mercer, the investment consulting arm of US services company Marsh & McLennan, expects its wealth division to at least double its assets under management (AUM) in the Middle East as wealth in the region continues to grow despite economic headwinds, a company official said.

Mercer Wealth, which globally has $160 billion in AUM, plans to boost its AUM in the region to $2-$3bn in the next 2-3 years from the present $1bn, said Yasir AbuShaban, a Dubai-based principal with Mercer Wealth.

“Within the next two to three years, we are looking at reaching $2 to $3 billion as a conservative estimate and we do see an opportunity to do so,” said Mr AbuShaban.

Mercer does not directly make investments, but allocates clients’ money they have discretion to, to professional asset managers. They also provide advice to clients.

“We have buying power. We can negotiate on their (client’s) behalf with asset managers to provide them lower fees than they otherwise would have to get on their own,” he added.

Mercer Wealth’s clients include sovereign wealth funds, family offices, and insurance companies among others.

From its office in Dubai, Mercer also looks after Africa, India and Turkey, where they also see opportunity for growth.

Wealth creation in Middle East and Africa (MEA) grew 8.5 per cent to $8.1 trillion last year from $7.5tn in 2015, higher than last year’s global average of 6 per cent and the second-highest growth in a region after Asia-Pacific which grew 9.9 per cent, according to consultancy Boston Consulting Group (BCG). In the region, where wealth grew just 1.9 per cent in 2015 compared with 2014, a pickup in oil prices has helped in wealth generation.

BCG is forecasting MEA wealth will rise to $12tn by 2021, growing at an annual average of 8 per cent.

Drivers of wealth generation in the region will be split evenly between new wealth creation and growth of performance of existing assets, according to BCG.

Another general trend in the region is clients’ looking for a comprehensive approach to investing, according to Mr AbuShaban.

“Institutional investors or some of the families are seeing a slowdown in the available capital they have to invest and in that sense they are looking at optimizing the way they manage their portfolios and making sure they are not investing haphazardly and different parts of their investment are working together,” said Mr AbuShaban.

Some clients also have a higher appetite for risk, given the low interest-rate environment that does not provide enough yield for some institutional investors. These clients are keen to invest in illiquid assets, such as private equity and infrastructure.

“What we have seen is a desire for higher returns in what has been a low-return environment specifically in various fixed income or bonds,” he said.

“In this environment, we have seen a de facto increase in the risk that clients are taking in things like illiquid investments, private equity investments, infrastructure and private debt, those kind of investments were higher illiquidity results in incrementally higher returns.”

The Abu Dhabi Investment Authority, one of the largest sovereign wealth funds, said in its 2016 report that has gradually increased its exposure in direct private equity and private credit transactions, mainly in Asian markets and especially in China and India. The authority’s private equity department focused on structured equities owing to “their defensive characteristics.”

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Six tips to secure your smart home

Most smart home devices are controlled via the owner's smartphone. Therefore, if you are using public wi-fi on your phone, always use a VPN (virtual private network) that offers strong security features and anonymises your internet connection.

Keep your smart home devices’ software up-to-date. Device makers often send regular updates - follow them without fail as they could provide protection from a new security risk.

Use two-factor authentication so that in addition to a password, your identity is authenticated by a second sign-in step like a code sent to your mobile number.

Set up a separate guest network for acquaintances and visitors to ensure the privacy of your IoT devices’ network.

Change the default privacy and security settings of your IoT devices to take extra steps to secure yourself and your home.

Always give your router a unique name, replacing the one generated by the manufacturer, to ensure a hacker cannot ascertain its make or model number.

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5.30pm: UAE v Italy (Group A)

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Tips on buying property during a pandemic

Islay Robinson, group chief executive of mortgage broker Enness Global, offers his advice on buying property in today's market.

While many have been quick to call a market collapse, this simply isn’t what we’re seeing on the ground. Many pockets of the global property market, including London and the UAE, continue to be compelling locations to invest in real estate.

While an air of uncertainty remains, the outlook is far better than anyone could have predicted. However, it is still important to consider the wider threat posed by Covid-19 when buying bricks and mortar.

Anything with outside space, gardens and private entrances is a must and these property features will see your investment keep its value should the pandemic drag on. In contrast, flats and particularly high-rise developments are falling in popularity and investors should avoid them at all costs.

Attractive investment property can be hard to find amid strong demand and heightened buyer activity. When you do find one, be prepared to move hard and fast to secure it. If you have your finances in order, this shouldn’t be an issue.

Lenders continue to lend and rates remain at an all-time low, so utilise this. There is no point in tying up cash when you can keep this liquidity to maximise other opportunities.

Keep your head and, as always when investing, take the long-term view. External factors such as coronavirus or Brexit will present challenges in the short-term, but the long-term outlook remains strong.

Finally, keep an eye on your currency. Whenever currency fluctuations favour foreign buyers, you can bet that demand will increase, as they act to secure what is essentially a discounted property.

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