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Brazil faces Zika virus alert as Olympics near

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Brazil faces Zika virus alert as Olympics near

Brazil faces Zika virus alert as Olympics nearRio de Janeiro: Already grappling with construction delays, budget cuts, pollution and a sinking economy, Rio 2016 organisers now face a health alert as they prepare for this year’s Olympic Games.

Brazil is battling to contain an outbreak of the Zika virus which has been linked with birth defects and paralysis-causing Guillain-Barre syndrome. The United States Centres for Disease Control and Prevention has warned pregnant women against travelling to Brazil and 21 other countries where the virus is present, reports Xinhua.

Officials in Rio said measures are being taken to prevent the accumulation of stagnant water which is a breeding ground for the Aedes aegypti mosquito that carries the virus.

“Rio 2016 will continue to monitor the issue closely and follow guidance from the health ministry,” the organising committee said in a statement.

The Olympics will be held from August 5 to 21, during Brazil’s dry season, and officials say this will mean the mosquito is less prevalent. The Zika outbreak also comes as Rio prepares for its annual carnival celebrations which begin on February 5.

According to Nancy Bellei, the coordinator of clinical virology at Brazil’s Infectious Diseases Institute, current high humidity meant tourists faced greater risk.

“This is the worst time to deal with an epidemic of a virus we know very little about. The government is trying to raise awareness and fight the mosquito but we won’t achieve control in the short term under the current circumstances,” she said.

Bellei added that the virus could easily spread to other countries by infected visitors.

“If a person is infected and then travels to a country where the Aedes mosquito is present, the mosquito can bite the person and thereby introduce the virus in a place where it previously did not exist,” Bellei said.

Zika originated in Africa and is thought to have spread to Brazil by tourists in 2014. Local health officials say the mosquito is behind a rise in the incidence of microcephaly, a condition that causes unusually small infant head size. It can lead to stillbirths and long-lasting health problems for survivors.

Brazil has recorded 3,893 suspected cases of microcephaly since October. Less than 150 cases were reported in the country in 2014. The health alert coincides with Brazil’s worst recession in decades, exacerbated by a sprawling corruption scandal at state-run oil company Petrobras.

Rio is also struggling to finish a raft of infrastructure projects in time for the Olympics, including a new subway line and several event venues. In addition, organisers have cut about $500 million in expenses while Rio’s sailing and rowing venues face ongoing pollution concerns linked to the city’s inadequate sewage system.

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Casino Days Reveal Internal Data on Most Popular Smartphones

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CasinoDays India

International online casino Casino Days has published a report sharing their internal data on what types and brands of devices are used to play on the platform by users from the South Asian region.

Such aggregate data analyses allow the operator to optimise their website for the brands and models of devices people are actually using.

The insights gained through the research also help Casino Days tailor their services based on the better understanding of their clients and their needs.

Desktops and Tablets Lose the Battle vs Mobile

The primary data samples analysed by Casino Days reveal that mobile connections dominate the market in South Asia and are responsible for a whopping 96.6% of gaming sessions, while computers and tablets have negligible shares of 2.9% and 0.5% respectively.

CasinoDays India

The authors of the study point out that historically, playing online casino was exclusively done on computers, and attribute thе major shift to mobile that has unfolded over time to the wide spread of cheaper smartphones and mobile data plans in South Asia.

“Some of the reasons behind this massive difference in device type are affordability, technical advantages, as well as cheaper and more obtainable internet plans for mobiles than those for computers,” the researchers comment.

Xiaomi and Vivo Outperform Samsung, Apple Way Down in Rankings

Chinese brands Xiaomi and Vivo were used by 21.9% and 20.79% of Casino Days players from South Asia respectively, and together with the positioned in third place with a 18.1% share South Korean brand Samsung dominate the market among real money gamers in the region.

 

CasinoDays India

Cupertino, California-based Apple is way down in seventh with a user share of just 2.29%, overshadowed by Chinese brands Realme (11.43%), OPPO (11.23%), and OnePlus (4.07%).

Huawei is at the very bottom of the chart with a tiny share just below the single percent mark, trailing behind mobile devices by Motorola, Google, and Infinix.

The data on actual phone usage provided by Casino Days, even though limited to the gaming parts of the population of South Asia, paints a different picture from global statistics on smartphone shipments by vendors.

Apple and Samsung have been sharing the worldwide lead for over a decade, while current regional leader Xiaomi secured their third position globally just a couple of years ago.

Striking Android Dominance among South Asian Real Money Gaming Communities

The shifted market share patterns of the world’s top smartphone brands in South Asia observed by the Casino Days research paper reveal a striking dominance of Android devices at the expense of iOS-powered phones.

On the global level, Android enjoys a comfortable lead with a sizable 68.79% share which grows to nearly 79% when we look at the whole continent of Asia. The data on South Asian real money gaming communities suggests that Android’s dominance grows even higher and is north of the 90% mark.

Among the major factors behind these figures, the authors of the study point to the relative affordability of and greater availability of Android devices in the region, especially when manufactured locally in countries like India and Vietnam.

“And, with influencers and tech reviews putting emphasis on Android devices, the choice of mobile phone brand and OS becomes easy; Android has a much wider range of products and caters to the Asian online casino market in ways that Apple can’t due to technical limitations,” the researchers add.

The far better integration achieved by Google Pay compared to its counterpart Apple Pay has also played a crucial role in shaping the existing smartphone market trends.

 

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