MV TELEGRAPH

More than half a year since Covid-19 halted its spread in mainland China, new clusters of cases have appeared in and around the capital Beijing in recent weeks.

The number of newly reported cases is nowhere near as high as in many countries outside of China, including the US. Hebei, the worst-hit province, has reported more than 800 new confirmed cases since January 1. Here’s a look at the provinces that have reported confirmed coronavirus cases since December 1, with darker shades representing areas with higher numbers of cases:

The ongoing spread of the virus, particularly in Hebei province surrounding Beijing, has led authorities to lockdown several regions and urge people across the country not to travel during the upcoming New Year celebrations. The holiday officially falls in mid-February this year.

“Given the rapid response from local governments, efficient testing and tracking systems, and the ongoing adoption of vaccines, we believe the situation will eventually be brought under control,” said Ting Lu, Nomura’s chief economist, China, in a January 18 note . “However, the unusually cold weather and the upcoming Lunar New Year (LNY) rush could make the task of containing the virus more difficult.”

“The hospitality sector is expected to slow while the industrial sector may remain solid,” said Lu, adding, “Markets may need to lower expectations of strong pent-up consumer demand during the upcoming LNY vacation in mid-February.”

Hebei Province started an increase in coronavirus cases earlier this year, with daily numbers topping 90 last week. The numbers don’t include the many asymptomatic cases found by mass testing.

Pharmacy students Anne Brandt (l) and Sarah Schulz are preparing six syringes from a vial with the SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus vaccine from Biontech / Pfizer for vaccination of medical staff at the Leipzig University Hospital. There are currently more requests for vaccination appointments than can currently be offered.

Image Alliance | Image Alliance | Getty Images

Since Germany started its vaccination campaign together with the rest of the EU at the end of December, it has encountered a number of logistical challenges.

Now, nearly a month after the program began, the slow progress made by some German lawmakers and health professionals is causing frustration and concern.

Health Minister Jens Spahn had targeted 300,000 vaccinations per day, but the country has not yet achieved this. Data from the health department, the Robert Koch Institute, released on Tuesday showed that just over 62,000 vaccinations (most of which were first doses) had been given in the past 24 hours.

Since the start of vaccinations in Germany in all 16 federal states on December 27, almost 1.2 million people in Germany (the priority groups are currently healthcare workers, residents of nursing homes and employees, as well as the elderly) have received a first dose of the coronavirus Vaccine and nearly 25,000 have received their second dose.

In contrast, the UK, which became the first country in the world to approve and introduce the Pfizer BioNTech vaccine (partly developed in Germany), and the Oxford-AstraZeneca University candidate started its Covid vaccination program in early December to date, over 4 million people have been vaccinated to date vaccinated with their first dose of vaccine (over 450,000 had their second dose) and by the end of last week they were being vaccinated over 300,000 vaccinations per day.

Wide range of problems

The EU had a policy of buying coronavirus vaccines as a block, but some countries, including Germany, also made their own additional purchase agreements.

Nonetheless, supply problems were already a problem at the beginning of the vaccination campaign in Germany, as vaccines were not available in certain centers and other difficult logistical problems arose with the vaccination of his priority groups such as the elderly. This has resulted in inconsistent vaccine delivery performance from state to state within the country.

Dr. Stefan HE Kaufmann, a renowned immunologist and microbiologist in Germany and founding director of the Max Planck Institute for Infection Biology in Berlin, told CNBC on Tuesday that the vaccination process was associated with challenges from the start.

“The number one priority (in the vaccination campaign) is currently the elderly and people with serious illnesses, especially in children’s homes. This process is ethical, but very time-consuming. It also includes health care workers and medical staff in nursing homes and hospitals. Apparently some of the nursing home staff are hesitant about vaccination, “he noted.

Fenna Martin (C) vaccinates Marielotte Kilian (L), 87, and Richard Kilian (R), 86, against Covid-19 in the vaccination center, which was installed on January 19, 2021 at the convention center in Wiesbaden, western Germany, which opened in the western state of Hesse its first six vaccination centers in the midst of the novel coronavirus.

ARNE DEDERT | AFP | Getty Images

So far, only the vaccines developed by Pfizer, BioNTech and Moderna have been approved for block use by the European Medicines Agency. The easier to store and transfer (and cheaper) candidate from AstraZeneca and Oxford University has not yet been approved.

When it comes to introducing vaccines, time is of the essence, especially in cases where there is an increase due to the more transmissible mutations. Nevertheless, Germany has registered fewer cases than many of its neighbors and has recorded just over 2 million infections to date. The death toll stands at 47,958.

A key problem for both the UK and the EU is that supply cannot meet current demand for vaccines, and Germany was no exception. Early reports of people struggling to get a vaccination appointment because doses are tight. However, vaccine manufacturers have promised to ramp up production and deliver millions more doses over the next few weeks and months.

In the meantime, however, “the doses secured for immediate use are insufficient,” said Kaufmann.

“While so-called vaccination centers have been set up throughout Germany, vaccines for a rapid maximum vaccination rate are currently lacking in these centers. (The) hope is that the process will be accelerated after the difficult and time-consuming vaccination has been achieved (at nursing homes),” he said and noted that the speed of the German vaccination campaign “would have been faster if more doses of BioNTech and Moderna had been secured”.

“In my opinion, everything must be done to get more doses for immediate or short-term use. This is all the more important as mutant strains that could evade vaccine-induced immune responses are becoming more common,” he warned.

Political criticism

Germany is not the only one who sees a slow start to its vaccination campaign. The European Commission has been criticized across the EU for failing to procure enough vaccines for the block.

Florian Hense, European economist at Berenberg, told CNBC that the approval and procurement process has left the EU behind, or at least behind, other countries like the UK and the US when it comes to sourcing vaccines.

“Since the EU negotiated and approved vaccinations with pharmaceutical companies on behalf of its member states, the German vaccination campaign was always ‘un-German’, regardless of what you associate with the term,” he told CNBC on Monday.

Elderly people who have just been vaccinated against COVID-19 wait briefly for side effects before leaving the vaccination center at the Messe Berlin exhibition center on the opening day of the center during the second wave of the coronavirus pandemic on January 18, 2021 in Berlin, Germany. The center is the third to open in Berlin. Three more are to be opened in the coming weeks as soon as supplies of the Pfizer / BioNTech and Moderna vaccines pick up speed.

SEAN GALLUP | AFP | Getty Images

“I suspect that the EU’s later approval delayed the start of vaccinations and has since limited the pace of vaccinations per day as vaccinations arrived in the EU more slowly than the UK, US (per capita)” “

Needless to say, other parliamentarians have criticized the government’s overall strategy. Dr. Janosch Dahmen, doctor and German MP for the Greens, told CNBC that he was “very concerned because Germany is already behind”.

“The progress of the vaccination campaign is far too slow and one of the reasons is the supply bottleneck. The more pressing problem, however, is that the vaccination infrastructure shows several problems, mainly staff shortages, distribution problems in the federal states and much more too much of a central approach,” he said.

“As a doctor and a politician, I am very concerned about the situation here and, apart from all the efforts we need to make to make the nationwide vaccination campaign more effective, we need to build bridges through testing, self-testing and testing, and we need to put more effort into contact tracing which is another important part of fighting this pandemic, “said Dahmen.

Former Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano told CNBC’s “The News with Shepard Smith” that the January 6 attack on the Capitol was “instigated” by President Donald Trump and criticized him for telling the “big lie” in the election fueled on November 3rd, it was stolen from him.

“He did not say what would be most helpful, namely that he lost the election fair and the square and that it is time for a peaceful change of power, as is the great tradition of our country,” said Napolitano, who was from 2009 to 2013 Minister of Homeland Security. “… He did not realize that some of this violence was fueled by the so-called ‘big lie’ and he is the main proponent of it.”

An internal security report released in 2009 warned that right-wing extremism was on the rise and could lead to violence. There have been calls for Napolitano to resign, and she had to apologize for part of that report that said extremists might try to attract veterans. Napolitano said host Shepard Smith during an interview on Tuesday evening that white nationalists had only become more dangerous since the report.

“I think that assessment was generally correct at the time and it has proven to be correct in the following years and certainly in the last four years and certainly in the last few weeks,” said Napolitano. “We saw a surge in these right-wing nationalist groups, fueled in part by social media and social media messaging, and actually instigated on the 6th, in my view, by the president.”

There are growing concerns about an insider attack involving US soldiers charged with securing the inauguration of President-elect Joe Biden. The FBI is taking no chances and is reviewing the 25,000 National Guard troops who will be present at the inauguration.

According to a Pentagon spokesman, twelve members of the National Guard have since been expelled from Biden’s inauguration following the FBI investigation. Officials say two of the National Guard forces were flagged for “inappropriate” comments and text, while the other ten were removed for “various reasons”.

Napolitano said the security level in the Capitol was “necessary” because of the January 6 riot, but the measures would result in a “very uneventful day of inauguration”.

Correction: This story has been updated to correct a quote mapping.

CNBC’s Jim Cramer revisited his “Go” list of 11 returning stocks on Tuesday, recommending that a handful of names in the cart remain open to buy.

“Aside from Mastercard and 3M, our Go stocks have had great results since we learned about the vaccine in November. Some of them got a little rich,” he told Mad Money, “but the rest of the list is actually still worth buying. “

“With the way our government botched the vaccine rollout, you’d better believe that this list will get another leg up once the pandemic is finally under control.”

Of the eleven companies on the list, Cramer concludes that, despite double-digit gains since the list was created last summer, more than half remain at attractive levels that investors can focus on. Cramer found the stock group has risen 36% since the list was presented in early August, compared to around 14% gains for the S&P 500 and Dow Jones. The Nasdaq Composite gained more than 18% over the same period.

“On average, the Go List outperformed the major indices,” he said. “However, if you make each name bigger, some worked a lot better than others.”

“I think those who work will have more benefits when Americans are vaccinated and a new president is sworn in with a more serious federal Covid plan.”

The Go-Listen Index includes chemical, entertainment, financial, apparel, and railroad companies that Cramer expects to improve manufacturing as coronavirus vaccines spread and the economy rebound after a discouraging year 2020 recovered and returned to a certain sense of normalcy.

Of the 11 companies he expects to show impressive year-on-year comparisons over the next 12 months, Union Pacific, Emerson Electric, Nucor, PPG Industries, Ralph Lauren and PVH have more leeway due to Cramer’s prospects.

Union Pacific, which is reported to report fourth quarter earnings on Thursday, posted a year-over-year revenue decline of nearly 13% in the first nine months of 2020. However, stocks rose 15% over the course of the year. Since August, the stock is up 22%.

In Nucor, business declined nearly 15% over the same period from January to September, and its share price was down 5% for the year. The stock is up 29% since August.

Emerson Electric’s sales were down 11% year over year between January and September, while shares rose over 5% for the full year. Since August, the stock is up 29%.

After sales fell more than 12% in the first three quarters of 2020, PPG shares closed the year up 8%. The stock is up 31% since August.

In the quarters hit by the pandemic, clothing companies Ralph Lauren and PVH saw sales decline more than 30% from January through September. Their stocks both fell about 11% in 2020, but have increased about 56% and 90%, respectively, since Cramer compiled his Go list.

For the other winners on the go list, Disney stocks are up 35%, Nike stocks are up 38% and DuPont stocks are up 54%. Cramer suggested that these stocks can pull back before buying.

The laggards are Mastercard and 3M. The former is down less than 1% since the beginning of August, while the latter is up almost 9%.

“Between the resurrected banks and all these fast-growing IPOs for new financial technologies, there are fewer opportunities to own a stock like Mastercard. I got that wrong,” said Cramer. “I think Mastercard is a great company, but Wall Street just isn’t interested right now. Maybe they’ll take off when cross-border travel comes back.”

However, he gave a more promising forecast for 3M in the short term.

“3M has some serious problems – I put this problem on the list because I thought management could get over it,” he said. “3M reports next Tuesday and they did damn well last time around. I think the good numbers will continue.”

Stefani Reynolds / Bloomberg via Getty Images

“Possibly Bad” QBI prints

According to a report released Tuesday by the Inspector General of Financial Management, the IRS allowed business owners to claim “potentially erroneous” deductions of $ 57 million on 12,980 tax returns filed in the past year.

The watchdog asked the tax authorities to tighten control over the pass-through deduction.

This is a rich vein for the IRS to prospect because the IRS is getting pay grime so far [almost] every time.

Steven Rosenthal

Senior Fellow at the Urban-Brookings Tax Policy Center

It’s not entirely clear why the Treasury Inspector General reported these tax returns to the IRS. The report, which analyzed tax returns for 2019 filed as of April 16 last year, worked out many details.

The analysis also shows the high level of error in tax returns that claim a pass-through deduction, said Steven Rosenthal, senior fellow at the Urban-Brookings Tax Policy Center.

For example, when the IRS selected 68 tax returns for the 2018 tax year for additional scrutiny, the agency ultimately denied 85% of them a pass-through deduction worth approximately $ 4.8 million, the report said.

“This is a rich vein for the IRS to prospect because the IRS is getting wage filth so far [almost] every time, “said Rosenthal.

“I think QBI is written in a very complex way, with exceptions to the exceptions,” he said of the trigger and why errors can occur.

Eric Hylton, Commissioner for the IRS Small Business / Self Employed Division, acknowledged that withholding is complex and challenging for taxpayers and federal agencies.

However, the 12,980 returns identified in the Watchdog analysis account for just 0.14% of the 9.4 million who applied for a QBI deduction, Hylton said in a response attached to the report. And about 95% of them were duly selected by the IRS, he said.

The pursuit of additional compliance would divert resources away from other agency areas and “reduce the overall revenue potential,” he added.

The Treasury Inspector General has been contacted but did not respond to a request for comment at the time this story was published.