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People dancing at Egg London nightclub early in the morning on July 19, 2021 in London, England.

Rob Pinney | Getty Images

LONDON – Covid-19 cases in the UK fell for the seventh straight day on Tuesday to 23,511 from 46,588 a week earlier, but Prime Minister Boris Johnson has urged the public to remain cautious.

Speaking to LBC Radio on Wednesday, Johnson said it was important not to jump to conclusions and remember that “the virus is still out there”.

“A lot of people have it and it still poses a significant risk,” he added.

Despite falling infection rates, deaths hit 131 within 28 days of a positive test on Tuesday, the highest number since March, while hospital admissions also continued to rise.

Public Health England has pointed to these numbers to illustrate that the pandemic is “not over yet,” and Yvonne Doyle, Medical Director of Public Health England, suggested that death and hospital admissions numbers are the result of the surge in recent weeks are because the delta variant spread quickly.

In a release Tuesday, US research firm Fundstrat highlighted that the UK’s delta surge peaked after around 45 days, similar to the 50-day mark in India, where the strain was first discovered.

JPMorgan analysts on Wednesday changed their previous projections for the virus’s effective reproductive number from 1.3 on July 19 to 1.6, a level where infections would have doubled every 10 days and hit 400,000 in the UK in just a few weeks . Health Minister Sajid Javid had warned the infections could exceed 100,000 a day in a matter of weeks.

England lifted its last layer of social restrictions on July 19, allowing nightclubs and other indoor entertainment venues to open and relax mandates for masks, mass gatherings and social distancing. Some restrictions still apply in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland. It is important that the July 19 easing of restrictions is not yet reflected in hospital admissions and death numbers.

The move met with much controversy as the third wave of the virus continued to sweep the country, forcing Johnson and Treasury Secretary Rishi Sunak to self-isolate after Health Secretary Javid tested positive.

“It seems that the July 19th easing of restrictions did not result in a dramatic change in people’s behavior as we expected,” JPMorgan chief economist for Europe David Mackie said in a research note on Wednesday.

“Not much has changed over the past week according to Google mobility data, and anecdotal evidence suggests that compliance with NPIs like wearing masks is still widespread.”

While the tests were down about 15%, which could mean a decrease from about 6,000 new infections daily, Mackie said the combination of this and limited mobility could explain why the effective reproductive number has apparently fallen below one, causing the sharp decrease the absolute infection rate.

Other possible reasons were the end of the Euro 2020 soccer tournament, which saw large crowds gathering in pubs and stadiums, as well as the start of school holidays or the effects of seasonal weather.

‘Much, much milder’ than expected

Mackie argued that the spread of community that would be expected of those who contract the virus at football events was clearly evident in the numbers, while seasonality and school holidays were not responsible for the dramatic extent of the decline.

“If the surge in new infections was due to the spread of the Delta variant, such a sharp turnaround is difficult to explain without an equally dramatic cause,” said Mackie.

“The delta variant has not disappeared. The higher basic reproduction number of the delta variant should have a lasting effect on the effective reproduction number.”

JPMorgan still views the delta variant as a problem because of its high rate of reproduction and the relatively modest effectiveness of vaccines in preventing retransmission over time, and Mackie also acknowledged that delays in the system could mean the situation continues changes.

“But it’s hard to argue against the idea that the current delta wave in the UK is much, much milder than we expected,” he concluded.

People wear protective face masks in front of McDonald’s in Union Square as the city resumes Phase 4 reopening following restrictions imposed in New York City on July 30, 2020 to slow the spread of the coronavirus.

Noam Galai | Getty Images

McDonald’s is expected to announce its third quarter results before the bell on Wednesday.

Wall Street analysts surveyed by Refinitiv expect the following:

• Earnings per share: $ 2.11 expected
• Revenue: $ 5.6 billion expected

The fast food giant has bounced back quickly in its U.S. business, but its international markets have taken longer to recover, which has been dragged down by new rounds of restrictions and bans. Last quarter, the company announced that US sales in the same store exceeded 2019 levels, a trend executives expect to return this quarter.

Promoting the chain for “famous orders” with BTS, the K-Pop supergroup, is expected to help achieve this goal. McDonald’s began rolling out the promotion in nearly 50 countries in late May. Analysts also expect strong sales of the chain’s chicken sandwich, which launched nationwide in February.

For all of 2021, the company expects system-wide revenue growth in mid-teens.

The company’s shares are up 14% this year, for a market value of $ 189 billion.

Russian gymnasts upset the U.S. Olympic team in Tokyo on Tuesday after American superstar Simone Biles withdrew from the competition.

Biles, the reigning all-around Olympic gold medalist and one of the faces of the American contingent in Japan, left the team final after a disappointing vault performance with what USA Gymnastics called “a medical issue.” Biles “will be assessed daily to determine medical clearance for future competitions,” the U.S. gymnastics governing body said.

Biles later told NBC’s “TODAY” she is “in shape” and feels “good” physically. She said she felt increased pressure as one of the most well-known athletes at the games.

USA’s Simone Biles cheers during the artistic gymnastics women’s team final during the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games at the Ariake Gymnastics Centre in Tokyo on July 27, 2021.

Loic Venance | AFP | Getty Images

“Emotionally, that kind of varies on the time and the moment,” she said. “You know, coming here to the Olympics and being the head star of the Olympics is not an easy feat, so we’re just trying to take it one day at a time, and we’ll see.”

The Russian Olympic Committee won the team gold medal with a score of 169.528. The U.S. claimed silver with a tally of 166.096, while Great Britain took the bronze at 164.096.

The Americans did not win team gold for the first time since 2008.

Biles exited the competition after the vault error and headed off the floor with a team doctor. She came back to the arena, hugged her teammates and watched the rest of the competition in her warmup uniform.

The 2016 all-around gold medalist said she would see about whether she would defend her individual title on Thursday.

Biles, 24, is considered one of the greatest gymnasts in the sport’s history. She won four gold medals at the 2016 Olympics and has dominated world championships with 19 gold medals to her name.

Biles has opened up about mental health struggles in the past. In a Facebook video series earlier this month, she said she dealt with depression after acknowledging she was a victim of sexual abuse by Larry Nassar, a former doctor for USA Gymnastics and Michigan State University.

He was accused of molesting dozens of girls and women including Biles and other Olympic gymnasts. Nassar was sentenced in 2018 to up to 175 years in prison.

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Disclosure: CNBC parent NBCUniversal owns NBC Sports and NBC Olympics. NBC Olympics is the U.S. broadcast rights holder to all Summer and Winter Games through 2032.

Just as Amazon Web Services is the profit center that powers many of Amazon’s other businesses, Walmart CEO Doug McMillon has been increasingly interested in expanding his company’s profit pools beyond its core retail business.

Starting Wednesday, small and medium-sized retailers will be able to acquire technology developed by Walmart that enables shoppers to purchase items online and pick them up in-store. These companies will also be able to add products to Walmart’s online marketplace with just a few clicks. To offer the suite of cloud-based services, Walmart has partnered with Adobe, which will sell the software through a subscription.

“When we started our journey, Covid had just struck,” said Anshu Bhardwaj, vice president of technology strategy and commercialization at Walmart Global Technology. “We reaped the benefits of this omnichannel journey early on.”

Walmart saw sales grow both online and in-store in the wake of the pandemic. While some other retailers have been forced to close stores to contain the spread of Covid-19, Walmart was considered a major retailer and stayed open. Some customers who wanted to limit the time they spent in stores took advantage of Walmart’s online purchase and in-store pickup. These developments accelerated the company’s e-commerce growth. The retailer’s online sales rose 79% for the fiscal year ended Jan. 29, with pickup and delivery sales up triple-digit year-over-year.

Only 7% of US retailers had the “Buy online in-store pickup” option enabled in January 2018. The pandemic accelerated that rate to 22% of retailers last month, according to the Adobe Digital Economy Index.

A significant opportunity remains. Last December, Adobe and market researcher IDC estimated the total addressable market for content and commerce software as a service to be around $ 44 billion.

For those wondering why Walmart wants its potential competitors to succeed, Bhardwaj said these smaller businesses are served anyway.

“Digitization is happening everywhere as consumers evolve,” said Bhardwaj. “There is no choice but to evolve with them.”

Walmart’s size and size, and its proximity to 90% of the US population within 10 miles of any of its stores gives it a significant advantage. Additionally, Bhardwaj said, “We really want to serve our communities, our shareholders, our stakeholders and the community better.”

She noted that about a year and a half ago, McMillon changed the language of a slide he used in presentations from “serve our shareholders” to “serve our shareholders”. Bhardwaj said it was a meeting with McMillon that fueled her idea of ​​selling the technology Walmart developed to other retailers.

Bhardwaj has been involved in other major Walmart technology initiatives. In particular, she led the successful Scan & Go technology at Sam’s Club, which enables customers to view purchases with a smartphone while adding items to their shopping cart.

The new software business opens up a potential source of income for Walmart and fits in with its strategy of creating new businesses that serve new customers and pour profits back into the company to fund further innovation.

Neither Walmart nor Adobe publicly share expectations of how big the business opportunity could be, but Bhardwaj said, “I’ll bet my life on it,” as their current role at the retailer was created to bring their idea to life.

For Adobe, the Walmart partnership increases visibility.

“We can now offer a more holistic solution, a first-class omnichannel experience,” said Peter Sheldon, Adobe’s senior director of Commerce Strategy, in an interview. “From Adobe, [these businesses] will receive world-class e-commerce and world-class omnichannel experiences from Walmart. “

The small and medium-sized retailers will use Adobe to operate e-commerce sites, including shopping cart, search, navigation and product recommendation functions. (Walmart does not use Adobe commerce software for these functions for its own website. It has its own technology.)

Small and medium-sized businesses and retailers with annual sales of $ 1 billion or more are already using a variety of Adobe e-commerce products, including Rite Aid, Verizon, Unilever, Coca-Cola, HP, Honeywell, Trader Joe’s, and more.

Walmart provides the technology that enables staff to pick and pack online purchases, and geofencing technology staff need to know when customers will be arriving to pick up their orders.