Coronavirus Watch

Global Statistics

More than 27.9 million people around the world have been diagnosed with the coronavirus and 906,629 have died. Over 20 million people have recovered.

Safety of a prospective vaccine for COVID-19 comes “first and foremost”, the World Health Organization’s chief scientist has said, as a trial of a candidate from AstraZeneca was temporarily paused due to concerns over side effects.

India confirmed 95,529 new cases of coronavirus while 1,168 people died. India has been reporting the world’s largest single-day increases in cases for a more than a month. Its death toll has also been rising by at least 1,000 a day for eight days straight.

Brazil recorded 32,301 additional confirmed cases of the novel coronavirus in the past 24 hours, as well as 1,022 deaths from the disease, according to the health ministry. Brazil has registered nearly 4.1 million cases of the virus since the pandemic began, while the official death toll has risen to 128,539, according to ministry data.

Russia says 142 people have died from the new coronavirus in the last 24 hours, raising the official death toll to 18,135. Russia’s coronavirus taskforce reported 5,218 new cases, bringing its nationwide tally to 1,041,007, the fourth-largest caseload in the world.

The number of cases in South Africa is now at 642, 431 and the death toll is 15,168. The total number of recoveries is at 569,935 which is a recovery rate of 88, 7%.

 41 new cases of the Coronavirus were reported in Zimbabwe to bring the total number of cases to 7,429. The death toll now sits at 222 after 4 new deaths were recorded. The national recovery rate stands at 75% as 5,542 recoveries have been recorded. Active cases went down to 1,665.

117 new cases were recorded in Mozambique to bring the total number of cases to 4,764. At least 28 deaths have been recorded in the Southern African country.

Platinum market to see supply deficit of 336K ounces in 2020

Supply and demand dynamics in the platinum market continue to tighten as the global economy deals with the fallout of the COVID-19 pandemic, according to the latest research from the World Platinum Investment Council (WPIC). In its quarterly outlook report, the WPIC said that supply for the precious metal dropped 19% during the second quarter as vehicle sales and industrial activity ground because of the coronavirus’s spread.

However, production disruptions in South Africa due to COVID-19 lockdown measures and refinery issues caused mine supply to drop 35% between April and June. In its report, the WPIC said that it now forecasts that the platinum market will have a supply deficit of 336,000 ounces, down significantly from the previously estimated surplus of 247,000 ounces. The report said that platinum-backed exchange-traded products saw net inflows of 122,000 ounces in the second quarter, up significantly from outflows of 213,000 ounces reported in the first quarter. Raymond said that one trend they are seeing in the marketplace is gold investors paying closer attention to platinum as a value play in the precious metals market. Platinum prices are currently trading near a 1.5 month low; October platinum futures last traded at 898 an ounce. Platinum’s discount to gold is at unprecedented levels as gold prices trade above $1,900 an ounce. Kitco

Metal Prices Asia/Europe/NY market

10/09/2020

(Source: Kitco)