Covid-19 Business Watch: The week in review

It's been an important week in the continued battle against the Covid pandemic, with the J&J vaccine facing a hurdle that appears to be nothing more than a storm in a teacup. While today, the second phase of the country’s vaccination strategy kicked off with electronic registration for over 60s. It’s unclear, at this stage, whether the Government’s decision to pause the J&J vaccine rollout will have a material impact given that it hasn’t even started yet. This while China’s GDP jumped a record 18.3% in the first quarter from a year earlier, official data showed on Friday, slower than the 19% forecast by economists in a Reuters poll, and following 6.5% growth in the fourth quarter last year. Michael Avery spoke to Warwick Lucas Chief Investment Officer at Galileo Asset Managers, Raymond Parsons, professor in the School of Business and Governance at North West University & a special guest this week, Stavros Nicolaou head of the health working group for B4SA, to review the week that was.