Hero MotoSports Team Rally Kicks Off Rally Kazakhstan Campaign

Hero MotoSports Team Rally kicked into high gear for the second race of the 2021 season, with Rally Kazakhstan today. Carrying the Team’s flag will be the exciting trio of Joaquim Rodrigues, Sebastian Buhler and Franco Caimi, who delivered a great finish in the Andalucia Rally 2021 just the previous month.

After successfully completing the administrative checks and vehicle scrutiny in the morning, the riders got their first taste of the Kazakhstan terrain with a 2.7 kms Prologue stage. The results of the short loop outside the city of Aktau will be used to determine the starting order for tomorrow.

Joaquim finished the Prologue in 6th place, followed by Caimi and Buhler in 9th and 10th places respectively. This puts them in a good place for the first full stage of the rally tomorrow.

Joaquim Rodrigues, the experienced Portugese and Franco Caimi, the exciting Argentine rider are both highly regarded talents in the realm of Cross-country rallies and are coming off into this race on the back of strong Top 5 finishes in the recently concluded Andalucia Rally. The German talent Sebastian Buhler has already started making a name for himself, and the Rally of Kazakhstan will give him another chance to gain more experience and build on his skills.

The first full stage, starting tomorrow, will cover 280 kms of specials, with a little of everything that this area has to offer, ranging from hard packs to plains, dunes, rocky ascents and descents. Operating out of Aktau, on the shores of the Caspian Sea, Rally Kazakhstan will cover over 1465 kms of special stages and a total distance of 2275 kms over the next 5 days.

Wolfgang Fischer, Team Manager, Hero MotoSports Team Rally: “It‘s nice to be back at the FIM Cross-Country Rally World Championship, after a covid break since October 2019. We are quite excited for the rally as it's the first time for bikes here and also a first for Team Hero. Looking forward to experiencing a new country here in Kazakhstan.”

Joaquim Rodrigues, Rider, Hero MotoSports Team Rally: “We are in Kazakhstan for the first race of the FIM World Championship. The Prologue was a little strange to begin with, but we finally got it going and I just played it safe. The feeling was good today, so let’s see how it goes tomorrow with the first stage.”

Franco Caimi, Rider, Hero MotoSports Team Rally: “It was a very short stage, I think it was a minute or less. It was fun, just to check the bikes and the conditions and I really enjoyed it. I am very happy to be here, it’s my first time in Kazakhstan, so it’s very exciting to get to know this new desert. I am enjoying the bike, the team and this desert, so let’s see how it goes tomorrow.”

Sebastian Buhler, Rider, Hero MotoSports Team Rally: “It was a very short prologue, only around 2 kms.  It is mainly to see the start order for tomorrow but it felt good.  I look forward to a good 5 stages and a nice rally, because with the difficult times we are in, it’s a joy to be able to participate in races like this.”

Provisional rankings -                       Prologue

1.   Ross Branch                       Monster Energy Yamaha Rally     1m 26s

2.   Daniel Sanders                    Gas Gas Factory Team                  +0.4s

3.   Matthias Walkner                  Red Bull KTM Factory Racing    +0.7s

6.   Joaquim Rodrigues                 Hero MotoSports Team Rally    +2.0s

9.   Franco Caimi                      Hero MotoSports Team Rally        +7.4s

10.  Sebastian Buhler                  Hero MotoSports Team Rally     +8.4s

Ashish Patel - An Eco-Warrior & Environmentalist At Heart From Parnera Town, Gujarat

Ashish Patel, 36, is an Environmentalist at heart residing in Parnera town in Valsad district of South Gujarat. He works as a Senior Executive in the Quality Control Department at pharmaceuticals giant Sun Pharma plant in Silavasa.

Parnera has historic, spiritual and religious significance. Parnera Hill once had a fort erected in the 15th century, later captured by Sultan Muhamad Shah Begda. Later in the sixteenth century, the Portuguese of Daman conquered it and later during the Peshwa era, Chatrapati Shivaji Maharaj gloriously visited Parnera Fort on his way back from Surat. The hilltop is blessed with temples of Deity Kali Mata, Deity Ambika (Chamunda) Mata and the great Lord Shiva. It also possesses a mosque of Chand Pir Baba Dargah. Today, nearby people visit it for hiking, trekking, recreational, spiritual and religious purposes from nearby localities.

Ashish was visiting the Parnera hill-top once in 2016 along with his companions and got an idea to take the onus of tree plantation to enrich the biodiversity. From 2017 he started executing the idea and his efforts made him enlarge the group with members from nearby localities. Every Sunday he spends three hours in digging the soil, ploughing, planting sampling, watering the saplings and trees and cultivates the varying portions of the hilly area. When the locals request him to visit their place for tree plantation he happily agrees.

His five years of endurance has made 700 trees live which includes categories like Neem, Bamboo, Mango among varying others and he plans to plant 150 saplings annually. He likes to call his group Swatch Bharat. His friends join him in carrying water in cannons, digging, ploughing, bringing saplings and contributing in varying ways as Climate Warriors.

Apart from tree plantation, Ashish is involved in other social activities as well. He distributed food and groceries to the needy in 2020 lockdown and also arranged for an oxygen cylinder for a Covid-19 patient with the help of an affiliated NGO.

“I want the future generation to have a green pollution-free zone in my locality and that’s my only motive and inspiration to carry out this task. I am grateful to the people who accompany me on Sunday mornings for this selfless activity and contribute happily. Climate change is for real. 13th Goal of UN SDGs which is Climate Action is something we all need to consider and give a thought for ourselves and our future generations. Tree plantation is one of the tasks we can do. But other things like reducing plastic usage, waste-management, recycling among others can also be considered by the responsible citizens and everyone can make difference through their efforts. My thought-process is simple – plant trees, inspire others through actions and make a small difference”, states Eco-Warrior Ashish Patel.

The best time to plant a tree was twenty years ago. The second best time to plant a tree is today.

Land Rover Defender Supports The World's Toughest Adventure Race

* Perfect partnership: Award-winning Land Rover Defender to play vital role as a support vehicle at the world’s toughest adventure race – the Red Bull X-Alps 2021

* Behind the scenes: A fleet of Defender 110 models will transport athletes, medical crew and support staff throughout the challenge,  over 1 238 km of alpine terrain

* Rugged accommodation: The 4x4 will be a home-from-home for participants, who will sleep onboard using the bespoke Autohome roof tent* developed for the Defender 110

* Extreme endurance: 12-day competition combines hiking, ultra-running, mountaineering and paragliding across five countries – Austria, Germany, Italy, Switzerland, and France

* Adventurous pedigree: Land Rover has more than 73 years of expedition heritage, making it the perfect official vehicle partner for the extreme Red Bull X-Alps

Whitley, Wednesday 9 June 2021 – The award-winning Land Rover Defender will demonstrate its capability and durability as a support vehicle for the extreme Red Bull X-Alps. As official vehicle partner, Land Rover will provide a fleet of Defender 110s to support the world’s toughest adventure race.

Red Bull X-Alps athletes will negotiate more than 1 200 km of demanding alpine landscape in up to 12 days, from 20 June to 2 July 2021. Each of the 32 competitors will combine hiking, ultra-running, mountaineering and paragliding in a true test of human endurance and stamina. On a typical day, the athletes can expect to hike over 50 km with vertical ascents of up to 5 000 m, burning as many as 6 000 calories.

Land Rover’s most capable and durable 4x4 will provide unstoppable transport and shelter from the ever-changing conditions, while carrying vital supplies and equipment. The rugged 4x4s will come kitted with Autohome Roof Tents to aid athletes and crew members in their much-needed recovery, providing a safe and comfortable place to rest.

Seven of the athletes will be supported by Land Rover, including six-time Red Bull X-Alps winner Christian Maurer of Switzerland. Joining him are Red Bull X-Alps veterans Paul Guschlbauer (Austria), Gavin McClurg (USA), Tobias Grossrubatscher (Italy) and Markus Anders (Germany), who have participated in 11 races between them. There will also be debuts for Laurie Genovese (France) and Théo de Blic (France) as part of #TeamLandRover.

Ulrich Grill, Race Organiser, said: “Land Rover is synonymous with endurance adventures and the Defender will play a vital role in the Red Bull X-Alps challenge, supporting the competitors and race organisers as they battle the elements across the 1 238 km course. Its unstoppable capability and practical cabin mean it promises to be one constant throughout the 12-day event that participants will be able to rely on come rain or shine.”

The role of support vehicle will see crew members test the Defender’s expedition credentials to the extreme. With a maximum payload of up to 900 kg, dynamic roof load of 168 kg and static of 300 kg, each vehicle will be loaded with equipment and supplies. Terrain Response 2 technology – including world-first Configurable Terrain Response – will allow the drivers to fine-tune the vehicle to suit their driving preferences and the conditions.

Accessories including Land Rover’s Portable Rinse System, Exterior Side-Mounted Gear Carriers and Integrated Air Compressors will combine with Defender’s integrated 4G Wi-Fi connectivity and the Autohome Roof Tents to give competitors everything they need to rest and recover properly at the end of each day and to complete the epic event.

Following its world premiere at the Frankfurt Motor Show in 2019, Defender has won more than 58 international awards, including the 2021 World Car Design of the Year title at the annual World Car Awards.

Watch the race unfold: www.redbullxalps.com/livetracking

*Roof tent requires Expedition Roof Rack to be fitted

ACKO Organises Vaccination Drive For Employees, Family Members And Customers

Purely digital insurance platform ACKO held a vaccination drive  at its Bengaluru headquarters covering the vaccination cost for all employees and their family members. The vaccination drive has also been extended to friends of ACKO employees and NinjaKart employees which is one of ACKO’s Group Health Insurance clients. This drive will be conducted with all essential safety protocols in place to ensure that social distancing is maintained.

ACKO’s vaccination drive is a part of the company’s efforts to offer essential medical and non-medical support to employees to help tide over the ongoing crisis. ACKO has set up a dedicated 24X7 COVID-19 war room (helpline), driven by the company’s leadership team to ensure a timely response to a medical or financial requirement.

Talking about the vaccination drive, Ruchi Deepak, Co-founder of ACKO, said, “Vaccination has single handedly emerged as the only thing that can minimize the severity of the Covid-19 infection. We are very grateful to our team who have worked tirelessly to create this vaccination opportunity for not just our colleagues but also our partners. The only way we can tide over the pandemic and reach normalcy is if the entire country is swiftly vaccinated. This is our effort towards the same and our commitment to our employee welfare. We remain committed towards organizing more such drives as and when the opportunity presents itself”. 

Suman Pal, Senior Vice President, ACKO, who has been managing this internal initiative said, “For our inoculation drive, we have partnered with Fortis, a top-tier hospital, to ensure the safe and timely administration of the vaccine. We are following all public health guidelines while executing this drive and streamlining all our efforts to protect the health of employees and their families. We will continue to organize more such vaccination drives for our clients and their families in other cities like Mumbai & Delhi in near future”.

About ACKO:

ACKO Insurance is one of India’s leading digital insurance policy providers with its entire operations offered through the digital platform. Founded in 2016 by Varun Dua and Ruchi Deepak, ACKO’s entire process is designed to provide better customer experience. ACKO executes primarily through a digital platform with no offline hassles - zero paperwork from purchase, claims to renewals. ACKO’s innovative products and smart technology offerings make it stand out. The company uses a direct-to-consumer approach for distributing traditional products, allowing for favourable risk selection and exceptional underwriting. ACKO also offers innovative and bite-sized insurance products such as rider insurance, mobile and appliance protection, ticket cancellation etc in partnership with 18+ leading players in the internet ecosystem such as Ola, Oyo, redBus, Zomato, HDB Financial Services and UrbanCompany. In a span of 24 months of operations, the company has distributed insurance policies to over 62+ mn unique customers and issued 800mn insurance policies.

Roche Receives Approval For Laboratory Based Elecsys SARS-CoV-2 Antigen Test To Facilitate High-Volume Testing In The Country

* The Elecsys SARS-CoV-2 Antigen test is an automated laboratory assay intended as an aid in the diagnosis of active SARS-CoV-2 infection

* Antigen tests can complement PCR tests and help governments and healthcare systems to increase the testing capacities they need to manage SARS-CoV-2.

* The test allows cost and error reduction due to removal of manual handling as well as fast turn-around times and high test throughput.

* The test is the latest addition to Roche’s comprehensive COVID-19 portfolio and can help in the management of patients for optimal care delivery

Roche announced today that it has launched a high-throughput SARS-CoV-2 antigen test as an aid in the diagnosis of Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) infections. The laboratory based Elecsys SARS-CoV-2 Antigen test had earlier received CE mark has recently obtained the import license from CDSCO

The automated lab based antigen test could be useful in diagnosing symptomatic patients and exposed asymptomatic individuals. In addition, it will facilitate frequent screening of individuals in high-risk settings.

Roche’s Elecsys SARS-CoV-2 Antigen test is an immunoassay intended for the qualitative detection of SARS-CoV-2 present in the respiratory tract including nasopharynx and oropharynx. The Elecsys SARS-CoV-2 Antigen test is performed by healthcare professionals and could be used as an alternative or in conjunction with PCR testing. This test will be highly beneficial in reducing the burden on PCR testing, it can help provide faster reporting and could also be used in setups wherein the PCR testing is either limited or not available, thus reducing turnaround time for samples. In symptomatic individuals, a positive result with the Elecsys SARS-CoV-2 Antigen test indicates an active SARS-CoV-2 infection with a likelihood of 94.5%. A negative result may require to be confirmed with a PCR test or repeated (antigen test) after one to two days, if other clinical indications point to a SARS-CoV-2 infection.

Narendra Varde, Managing Director, Roche Diagnostics India and Neighboring Markets, “Robust diagnostic testing capacity is the bedrock to manage COVID-19 and contain community spread. With >2000 instrument installations across India, the high accuracy, high-throughput laboratory antigen test will give a vital boost to our testing capabilities supporting the Indian healthcare system in the diagnosis of SARS-CoV-2 infections. The launch of this test is the result of Roche Diagnostics’ unwavering commitment to help healthcare systems across the world contain SARS CoV.”

Dr. Nilesh Shah, President and Chief of Science & Innovation, Metropolis Healthcare Ltd, “Roche ECLIA antigen assay is a next generation test that overcomes major limitations of rapid antigen tests. Longer sample stability, no subjectivity, full automation and better sensitivity make the assay a top choice for COVID-19 testing. As a user, I would prefer positioning this test to be the primary choice for patients, while symptomatic negatives can be tested by RT-PCR as a reflex test".

Dr Nitin M Chavan, Consultant Pathologist, Lilavati Hospital and Research Center, "The automated SARS-CoV-2 antigen tests can be a valuable help in scaling up COVID-19 diagnostic testing in India. With sophisticated technology, high accuracy, fast turnaround time and easy accessibility, these tests are apt to diagnose individuals with symptoms of COVID-19, contact tracing of asymptomatic individuals and for surveillance testing in settings with high risk of infection".

The Elecsys SARS-CoV-2 Antigen test is a highly accurate test for patients with signs and symptoms suggestive of COVID-19, or people with either known or suspected exposure to SARS-CoV-2. In clinical studies, the Elecsys SARS-CoV-2 Antigen test showed a 94.5% sensitivity across 390 PCR confirmed symptomatic individuals* and a 99.9% specificity across 2747 PCR negative symptomatic, exposed and screening individuals.

The Elecsys SARS-CoV-2 Antigen immunoassay runs on all cobas e immunochemistry analysers which are widely available in India and allow for these test to be run alongside other COVID-19 and other infectious diseases markers available from Roche, which run on the cobas e systems. This test, running on the electrochemiluminescence technology, ensures high accuracy and precision in testing. These fully automated systems can provide test results in 18 minutes for a single test (excluding time for sample collection, transport, and preparation), with a throughput of up to 300 tests per hour from a single analyser, depending on the analyser[i].

About antigen testing

An antigen test detects proteins which are structural or functional components of a pathogen and are thus very specific to that pathogen.[ii]  In this case, the test would provide a qualitative “yes/no” answer on the presence of the pathogen in the patient sample. If the target antigen is present in sufficient concentrations in the sample, it will bind to specific antibodies and generate a positive result, indicating an active infection.[iii]

In general, antigen tests have a high specificity, though are not as sensitive as PCR tests that amplify the target viral DNA or RNA sequence in order to generate a quantifiable signal to indicate the presence of the virus in a sample. Therefore, to make up for the potential decrease in sensitivity of an antigen test, negative results should be analysed together with additional patient factors, such as COVID-19 exposure history, clinical symptoms, additional test results to help guide the diagnosis and subsequent treatment of the patient.

[i] Full specifications of the Roche immunoassay systems, including throughput, can be found on our diagnostics.roche website

[ii] European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control. Diagnostic testing and screening for SARS-CoV-2. 2020. https://www.ecdc.europa.eu/en/covid-19/latest-evidence/diagnostic-testing Accessed July 2020

[iii] https://www.who.int/news-room/commentaries/detail/advice-on-the-use-of-point-of-care-immunodiagnostic-tests-for-covid-19

* The performance evaluation was performed in symptomatic individuals with a cobas® SARS-CoV-2 RT-PCR Target 2 Ct value <30.

**availability subjected to regulatory approvals

About Roche Diagnostics India

Roche Diagnostics India Pvt. Ltd. established in the year 2002 has offices located in Chennai, Delhi, Kolkata and Mumbai with over 400 employees. Our broad range of innovative diagnostic tests and systems play a pivotal role in the groundbreaking area of integrated healthcare solutions and cover early detection, targeted screening, evaluation and monitoring of disease. Roche Diagnostics India works with the objective of “Doing now what patients need next”, thus preparing for the nation’s future healthcare needs.

All trademarks used or mentioned in this release are protected by law.

Nutanix Launches Service Provider Program Expanding Delivery Of Hybrid And Multicloud Solutions

* Expanded Nutanix Elevate Partner Program Drives Greater Revenue and Profitability for Service Providers

Nutanix (NASDAQ: NTNX), a leader in private, hybrid and multicloud computing, today announced the launch of the Nutanix Elevate Service Provider Program, further extending the benefits of the Elevate Partner Program to now include service providers globally. The program empowers service provider partners – including managed and cloud service providers – to build highly-differentiated hybrid and multicloud services, delivering increased profitability and faster time-to-market.

As many organizations look for opportunities to simplify their IT operations, IDC forecasts the managed cloud services market to grow to $101.1B by 2024*. With this opportunity, comes the challenge of service providers meeting increasingly individualized customer demands while staying profitable. The Nutanix Elevate Service Provider Program helps service providers improve margins and agility by addressing the lock-in and minimum commitment requirements encountered in traditional service provider vendor models and programs. 

“As the demand for managed and cloud services surges, service providers are uniquely positioned to assist an organization’s growth, optimization initiatives, and digital transformation needs,” said Christian Alvarez, SVP Worldwide Channels at Nutanix. “Through the Nutanix Elevate Service Provider Program, we are rewarding our partners’ commitment in delivering high value IT cloud service offerings​ and helping them maximize profitability and increase their revenue growth potential through premium offerings.”

Nutanix Elevate Service Provider Program Details

This service provider program adds two partnership levels to Nutanix Elevate: Authorized Service Provider and Professional Service Provider. Authorized Service Providers will include partners new to Nutanix or those delivering Nutanix services to small to mid-market organizations. Professional Service Provider will deliver differentiated services for enterprise organizations. Partners who join the program will be able to take advantage of all the benefits outlined in the Elevate Service Provider Program Guide including training, Not For Resale (NFR) and Nutanix XLAB software licenses, and enablement support. Professional Service Provider partners will be able to take advantage of expanded support from Nutanix including marketing materials, potential market development funds, sales tools, goal-based financial incentives and rebates, and personalized insights in the Nutanix Partner Portal.

Key advantages of Nutanix solutions and Elevate Service Provider Program include:

Improved Bottom Line: Simplified pricing options, no minimum commitment levels​ or mandatory product purchases help deliver increased profitability for service providers. Nutanix service providers also benefit from significantly lower management overhead with Nutanix, compared to competitors, ultimately delivering a highly capable and cost-effective HCI solution.

Increased Top Line and Fast​er Time-to-Market: The simplicity of Nutanix solutions can also help deliver faster time-to-market thanks to more than 80% faster deployment. Nutanix service providers can also onboard and rapidly scale new services including private, hybrid and multicloud, Desktop as a Service (DaaS), Disaster Recovery as a Service (DRaaS), Database as a Service (DBaaS), and more. Additionally, Nutanix software licenses can be used by service providers at their customer’s site, in the service provider’s environment, or on Nutanix Clusters running in public cloud environments - including AWS, AWS GovCloud and with support for Microsoft Azure under development - giving their customers a fast path to hybrid cloud.

Simplicity: A hallmark of Nutanix solutions, and a key driver behind the company’s average NPS score of 90 for the last seven years, is simplicity. Service providers will be able to deliver IT services, at any scale, with simple one-click deployment, upgrades, scaling, self-healing capabilities, troubleshooting and more with Nutanix. This will allow Nutanix service provider partners to realize nearly 60% more efficient IT infrastructure management, freeing up significant time to focus on innovation and supporting broader business priorities. Additionally, service providers can take advantage of auto-metering, enabling them to provide granular billing to their customers.

Nutanix is running a Service Provider Starter Pack promotional offer for new partners joining the Elevate Service Provider Program. This promotional offer includes training, certification and the right Nutanix software to help partners bring their differentiated services to production and start generating revenue. This offer is available immediately.

The Nutanix Elevate Service Provider program is available now to providers worldwide. More information on how to sign up, accompanying benefits, and the program guide are available at https://www.nutanix.com/partners/become-a-partner. Partners can also learn more about the program by signing up for the upcoming webinar on June 30, 2021, here.

Supporting quotes about the launch of the NESPP: 

Yotta: “Yotta chose Nutanix to power our managed private cloud services because of its well-architected platform and portfolio. Nutanix delivers performance, security, and control at scale for our customer’s mission critical business applications. We are excited for the Nutanix Elevate Service Provider Program as we continue to expand our partnership to deliver leading data center services to our customers at the most reasonable costs.” - Sunil Gupta, Managing Partner & CEO, Yotta

Cyxtera: “Thanks to the successful partnership we’ve built with Nutanix, Cyxtera’s customers can now deploy Nutanix Cloud Platform on our automated, on-demand infrastructure platform in more than half of our world-class datacenters. The Nutanix Elevate Service Provider Program offers us the ability to continue growing together. We are very excited to provide our customers increased flexibility by eliminating the complexities of procurement, logistics, and capital equipment management as a strategic Nutanix partner for hosted private infrastructure via Cyxtera’s Enterprise Bare Metal offering.” – Russell Cozart, Senior Vice President of Marketing and Product Strategy, Cyxtera

HKT: “At HKT, we are continuously enhancing our managed service offerings of integrated solutions to support the unique business needs of Hong Kong enterprises. Nutanix is a trusted and reliable partner, which performs admirably in terms of technology and support. With the new Nutanix Elevate Service Provider Program, together we will be able to deliver greater value and innovation for our customers’ digital transformation journey, in a way that can best meet their business demands across hybrid and multicloud.” – Tom Chan, Managing Director of HKT Commercial Group, HKT

OneNeck: OneNeck IT Solutions partnered with Nutanix to power our ReliaCloud Edge, a hosted private cloud, because Nutanix technologies provided the scalability to meet our customer’s IT needs with the reliability, security and high performance that their business demands.  As we continue to expand our partnership with new services powered by Nutanix, the option to join the Nutanix Elevate Service Provider Program offers us additional benefits that will help us expand our customers' ability to consume our data center services.” – Ted Wiessing, SVP Technology and Chief Security & Privacy Officer, OneNeck

OVH: “Partnering with Nutanix is a significant step forward to better address hosted private cloud’s growing demand with a highest level of technical solutions. Today we are announcing a great partnership between OVHcloud and Nutanix to offer a breadth of infrastructure options, with an eye toward future innovations, for our customers. Leading hosted private cloud solutions offered by OVHcloud continue to gain momentum in the market. Together with Nutanix and the new Nutanix Elevate Service Provider Program, OVHcloud is embarking on the mission to deliver next-generation hosted private cloud service offerings with a strong feature set offering performances and security that address a broad range of use cases for companies of all sizes at the best price.” – Michel Paulin, CEO, OVHcloud

TierPoint: “TierPoint is all about meeting our customers where they are on their journeys to IT transformation and delivering successful business outcomes to them. We picked Nutanix to build managed private cloud and cloud-to-cloud recovery solutions because of the simplicity, stability, and scalability of the Nutanix platform. Tierpoint joining the Nutanix Elevate Service Provider Program will make it even easier to add and deliver services that power our customer’s success and will continue to allow us to work hand-in-hand to find ways to advance the objectives of our shared clients.” – Brian Anderson, VP of Product Development, TierPoint

*Source: IDC, Worldwide Managed Cloud Services Forecast, 2020–2024: An Extraction View of Technology Outsourcing Services Markets (IDC #US45926720, September 2020)

Emirates SkyCargo Expands Pharma Cool Chain Infrastructure In Dubai, Enhancing Vaccine Transport Capabilities

Emirates SkyCargo is further strengthening its temperature sensitive pharma and vaccine handling capabilities in Dubai with the extension of its fully automated cool room with 94 airline pallet positions at its EU GDP certified dedicated pharma facility at Dubai International Airport.

The extended cool room will provide an additional 2600 square metres of temperature controlled environment (2-25 degrees Celsius) for the storage and handling of vaccines and other pharmaceuticals at Emirates SkyCargo’s purpose built GDP certified facility, reinforcing the carrier’s position as an industry leader for the air transportation of pharmaceuticals and providing additional capacity at its Dubai hub to meet the growing demand for transportation of Covid-19 vaccines. The new extension can hold an estimated 60-90 million doses of Covid-19 vaccines at one time.

Transportation of Covid-19 vaccines

Emirates SkyCargo continues to play a leading role in the international distribution of Covid-19 vaccines having transported over 75 million doses of Covid-19 vaccines on more than 250 flights to over 60 destinations since late 2020.

"Emirates SkyCargo is proud to have flown over 350 tonnes of Covid-19 vaccines around the world, delivering much needed support to communities that are still heavily impacted by the current wave of the pandemic. However, we are always looking ahead and we anticipate that there will be an increase in demand to transport vaccines to developing nations during the second half of the year. Already, we have seen a ramping up of Covid-19 vaccine volumes that were transported over the last few weeks in line with increased manufacturing. We expect to reach the 100 million doses milestone well before the end of this month," said Nabil Sultan, Emirates divisional senior vice president, Cargo.

"The last six months have been a valuable and mutual learning experience for Emirates SkyCargo and as well for pharmaceutical manufacturers and our logistics partners. We have been able to apply these learnings to make the process of vaccine transportation faster and more efficient, providing a valuable boost to the next phase of Covid-19 vaccine transportation, as well as for other temperature sensitive pharma products in the future" added Sultan.

Emirates SkyCargo was one of the first air cargo carriers to begin extensive preparations during the early stages of the pandemic for the transportation of Covid-19 vaccines. In October 2020, the carrier announced the setting up of a dedicated GDP certified airside hub in Dubai for transporting Covid-19 vaccines. The carrier has over 20,000 sq metres of EU GDP certified cool chain infrastructure for storing and handling Covid-19 vaccines in Dubai. Emirates SkyCargo also has more than 50 cool dollies dedicated for pharmaceuticals at its hub protecting temperature sensitive shipments such as vaccines during transit between the aircraft and the cargo terminal.

In January 2020, Emirates SkyCargo joined hands with DP World, International Humanitarian City and Dubai Airports to form the Dubai Vaccine Logistics Alliance aimed at rapidly transporting Covid-19 vaccines through Dubai to developing countries. This was shortly followed up in February 2020 with an MoU with UNICEF to expedite the transportation of Covid-19 vaccines under the COVAX initiative.

In addition to Covid-19 vaccines, Emirates SkyCargo has transported thousands of tonnes of other essential commodities such as PPE, pharmaceuticals and related supplies on its flights. The carrier recently set up a humanitarian airbridge initiative to transport urgent Covid-19 relief items to India. Under the initiative, the air cargo is offering any available cargo capacity on its flights from Dubai to nine destinations in India, free of charge for NGOs for transporting medical and relief items.