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UK life insurers pay 90 million pounds in COVID-19 claims – trade body
Insurers received 7,000 life insurance claims from families of people who died from COVID-19 and 83% have been paid so far, the ABI said in a statement. Every life insurance claim has been accepted, it said.
The average payout is expected to be 63,000 pounds for an individual policy and 137,000 for a group policy.
Although they are paying life insurance claims, worsening life expectancy will mean pensions, often the bulk of their business, are paid for a shorter period, industry sources say.
UK trials new COVID-19 smartphone app, includes Indian language versions
The new app is part of the UK’s National Health Service (NHS) Test and Trace service Test and Trace programme and is being overseen by Indian-origin techie Randeep Sidhu as Head of Product.
New Zealand considers freight as possible source of new coronavirus cluster
The source of the outbreak has baffled health officials, who said they were confident there were no local transmission of the virus in New Zealand for 102 days and that the family had not travelled overseas.
“We are working hard to put together pieces of the puzzle on how this family got infected,” said Director General of Health Ashley Bloomfield.
Investigations were zeroing in on the potential the virus was imported by freight. Bloomfield said surface testing was underway at an Auckland cool store where a man from the infected family worked.
“We know the virus can survive within refrigerated environments for quite some time,” Bloomfield said during a televised media conference.
Worldwide virus cases top 20 million, Doubling in six weeks
The worldwide count of known COVID-19 infections climbed past 20 million on Monday, with more than half of them from just three countries: the U.S., India and Brazil, according to the tally kept by Johns Hopkins University.
COVID-19: 60,963 fresh cases take India’s tally to 23,29,638
India’s rate of recovery has improved to 70.37% as 1,639,599 people, 56,110 in the last 24 hours, have been discharged from hospitals so far. “The TEST, TRACK, TREAT strategy showing desired result- early identification and prompt isolation/hospitalisation aiding exponential growth in recoveries,” the ministry tweeted on Wednesday.
World reaction to Russia’s COVID-19 vaccine
The World Health Organization and Russian health authorities are discussing the process for possible WHO prequalification, a WHO spokesman said on Tuesday.
“Prequalification of any vaccine includes the rigorous review and assessment of all required safety and efficacy data,” WHO spokesman Tarik Jasarevic told a U.N. briefing in Geneva, referring to clinical trials.
Directors’ liability insurance rates surge on virus litigation fears
Premiums for directors’ liability insurance, known as D&O, in Britain rose by more than 100%, while in the United States, rates for public companies were up by 59%, Marsh said in a quarterly commercial insurance survey.D&O insurance protects company directors and executives against litigation costs.
Jonathan Turner, CEO for speciality insurance at broker Gallagher, said D&O rates for public companies seen as particularly exposed to COVID-19 legal claims had risen by as much as 2,000%.
Mauritius seeks compensation after vessel blackens beaches
More than half of about 1,000 tons of fuel that leaked from the MV Wakashio has yet to be removed from the sea and coast. About 1,020 tons of oil has been transfered from the big ship to small tankers, and crews are working to remove more than 1,500 tons that still remains, Nagashiki Shipping, which owns the vessel, said on Tuesday.
Plea in SC seeks commission for inquiry into mismanagement of COVID-19 pandemic
The petition has alleged that the Centre failed to undertake timely and effective measures for containing transmission of the virus and an independent inquiry by a commission, appointed under the Commissions of Inquiry Act 1952, was essential to inquire into the “lapses”.
COVID-19: SC seeks response from Centre on plea to ban disinfection tunnels
“In the guise of preventing COVID-19 many sanitisation and disinfection devices have emerged which wrongfully claim to be effective in preventing the spread of this virus.”These include disinfection tunnels involving spraying and fumigation of disinfectants and disinfection tunnels exposing human beings to ultra violet rays with a belief of disinfecting them,” a PIL filed by law student Gursimran Singh Narula pleaded