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Covid-19 continues cause excess mortality in US and UK, says Swiss Re
Report suggests potential excess mortality in the general...
Infosys to drive LIC’s digital transformation with NextGen platform
Siddhartha Mohanty, CEO and MD, LIC "It will not only enhance our...
Be prepared for third Covid wave, have buffer stock of oxygen: SC to Centre
A bench of Justices D Y Chandrachud and M R Shah said: We need to prepare for the third surge of COVID-19 which may have altogether different parameters. We have to be ready for that. We have been reading that some experts have said that the third surge will be more harmful especially to children.
“We understand children are more resilient as compared to elders but we have to also consider that they themselves will not go to hospitals and their parents will have to take them making them vulnerable.
Khuntia panel submits report to centre on increasing country’s insurance penetration
Subhash Chandra Khuntia, chairman, IRDAI, revealed that a proposal to initiate pilot projects covering some states or districts prone to natural disasters like cyclone and flooding has been sent to the government and the National Disaster Management Authority(NDMA).
The idea is to cover all dwelling units in a vulnerable geographical area against natural catastrophes. The cost of coverage upto a limit can be funded by the Government and the owners can pay additional premium for higher coverage. Since dwelling unit insurance is very cheap, this is quite affordable and feasible and will save Government expenditure in terms of compensation to the affected after the incident,’..
Looking at the size of India in terms of population, geographical spread, diversity and low insurance penetration, there is tremendous scope to have more insurance companies. The market is far below the saturation point.
IRDAI suggests model insurance villages to increase insurance penetration in rural areas
“The concept may be implemented in a minimum of 500 villages in different districts of the country in the first year and increased to a minimum of 1,000 villages in subsequent two years,” the paper said on which the insurance regulator has invited comments from stakeholders by May 17.
It also said the choice of villages is to be made carefully, considering various relevant aspects and parameters in order to implement the concept successfully for a period of three to five years.
SBI Life Q4 net profit nearly flat at Rs 532 cr
Value of new business registered 16 per cent growth in FY21 to Rs 2,334 crore.The assets under management showed a rise of 38 per cent to Rs 2,20,871 crore as of March 31, 2021.
Indian states run out of COVID-19 vaccines, nationwide inoculation delayed
Prominent U.S. disease modeler Chris Murray, from the University of Washington, said the sheer magnitude of infections in India in a short period of time suggests an “escape variant” may be overpowering any prior immunity from natural infections in those populations. “That makes it most likely that it’s B.1.617,” he said. But Murray cautioned that gene sequencing data on the coronavirus in India is sparse and that many cases are also being driven by the UK and South African variants.
New heads appointed for Kotak life and Kotak general insurance
Effective 1st May 2021, Kotak Mahindra Life Insurance Company Limited (Kotak Life) will be headed by Mahesh Balasubramanian as managing director (MD) while Kotak General Insurance Company (Kotak GI) will be led by Suresh Agarwal as MD & CEO.
Ageas Federal Life Insurance net profit falls 20% to Rs 119 crore in Fy2020-21
The Board of the company has recommended a final dividend of Rs 104 crore, at a rate of dividend of 13 per cent. .
Vighnesh Shahane, MD & CEO, Ageas Federal Life Insurance said ,“During these difficult times due to the Covid-19 pandemic, we have taken several steps to steady the course of onboarding for our customers. Our profitability is borne out of continued efficiencies in achieving improved persistency, rationalisation in costs, decline in surrenders, and healthier solvency margin. We realigned our product suite in tune with the evolving needs of customers during the pandemic, introducing features that made our products more customer-centric and offered policyholders greater flexibility. Understanding and managing risks is of vital importance and the organisation has instituted strong governance practices and an integrated enterprise risk management system to identify, analyse and mitigate risks.”
1 in 4 global Covid-19 deaths occurred in Americas: Pan American Health Organization
“One in four Covid deaths reported worldwide last week took place right here, in the Americas. Nearly every country in Central America is reporting a rise in infections,” said Pan American Health Organization (PAHO) Director Carissa Etienne..
For the first time, Canada’s infection rates have surpassed the US Covid-19 infection rates, the PAHO director informed.
The surge of infections is being led by new Covid-19 variants, which slow vaccination rollouts, due to lack of vaccine availability, are also providing major setbacks for a number of countries in the Americas.
Men, elderly with diabetes at higher risk of death from Covid
With each five-year increase in age, the relative risk for Covid-19 related death in people living with diabetes increased by 43 percent, said the team of researchers from German Diabetes Centre, Leibniz Centre for Diabetes Research at Heinrich Heine University Dusseldorf, Germany
India will need 5 lakh ICU beds, 3.5 lakh medical staff in next few weeks, says Dr Devi Shetty
While most of the newspaper headlines and prime time television coverage has been over the lack of oxygen for the patients in ICUs, “I am having sleepless nights for the next headline, which is going to be that patients are dying in ICUs because there are no nurses and doctors to take care of the patients. And this is going to happen. I do not doubt it now,” said Dr Devi Prasad Shetty, the chairman and founder of Narayana Health, a chain of 21 medical centres in India, in his online address at the Symbiosis Golden Jubilee Lecture Series in Pune recently.
At present, India has only 75,000 to 90,000 ICU beds and almost all are already occupied – when the second wave of the pandemic hasn’t even reached its peak yet, he said. India is reporting about 3.5 lakh cases a day, and some experts say the number could go up to 5 lakh cases daily at its peak.