The top US health agency has placed France, Israel, Thailand and Iceland in its highest tier for Covid-19 levels, urging Americans not to visit. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention gave all four nations, along with Aruba and French Polynesia, a Level 4 ranking that denotes “very high” levels of Covid-19.
Joe Biden said he strongly supports the Pentagon’s plan to make Covid-19 vaccines mandatory for US troops by mid-September. “We cannot let up in the fight against Covid-19, especially with the Delta variant spreading rapidly through unvaccinated populations,” the US president said.
Long wait times were reported at entry points across the Canada-US border on Monday as Ottawa began allowing fully vaccinated Americans and permanent US residents to enter for the first time in 16 months. Data showed seven-hour delays at the Fort Frances, Ontario and International Falls, Minnesota crossings.
US job openings climbed above 10m to a record high in June, the latest sign of worker shortages faced by American businesses that are weighing on the recovery. The number of job openings rose by 590,000 to 10.1m in June, according to the labour department’s Job Openings and Labor Turnover Survey.
Tyson Foods, America’s largest meat producer, raised its full-year sales outlook as restaurant reopenings boosted demand for its beef and pork products. The Arkansas-based company expects full-year revenues in the range of $46bn to $47bn, up from its previous forecast for between $44bn and $46bn.
A coronavirus-induced labour shortage has forced Thai Union to cut capacity by a quarter even as demand for its frozen seafood and pet food pushed earnings to a record. The seafood producer said Thailand’s Covid-19-related border restrictions have kept out its migrant workers from Myanmar.
The pandemic has accelerated a generational shift in investing, according to Hargreaves Lansdown, with more younger people starting to invest during Covid-19 lockdowns. The UK’s largest investing platform added a record number of new clients and assets in the year to June, as it benefited from a surge in share trading.
UK recruitment group PageGroup has swung back to profit, with demand returning to many of its markets as pandemic restrictions ease. The UK-based recruiter, which operates in 37 countries, generated a pre-tax profit for the six months to June 30 to £63.7m, from a loss of £800,000 in the same period a year ago.