Will IRDAI direct insurance firms to cover coronavirus-hit businesses?

Amid rising number of cases of coronavirus in India, and businesses being hit by the pandemic, Confederation of All India Traders (CAIT) gas written to Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman seeking insurance cover for coronavirus-hit businesses. The traders' body has appealed to the Finance Minister to direct regulator IRDAI to mandate insurance firms to introduce coverage for disruptions to businesses on account of the coronavirus outbreak.

What CAIT suggested?

- In a letter to Sitharaman, CAIT suggested that insurance companies may be mandated to introduce 'disruptions due to coronavirus' as an additional cover to fire and materials damage policies, and the existing policyholders may be offered an option to add the additional cover.

- Confederation of All India Traders (CAIT) Secretary General Praveen Khandelwal highlighted the need for insurers to come up with need-based policies like cover against mosquito-borne diseases and vector-borne diseases, which can cover hospitalisation expenses due to coronavirus or fixed benefits upon its diagnosis.

CAIT has also sent a similar representation to Commerce Minister Piyush Goyal to take up the matter with Finance Ministry.

Meanwhile, the number of novel coronavirus cases in the country rose to 110 on Sunday, with Maharashtra reporting the highest followed by Kerala, while over 450 stranded Indians were flown back from Italy and Iran, the two worst-affected countries after China, and quarantined.

Extending the border restrictions in view of the coronavirus outbreak, the government has suspended travel and registration of pilgrims to the Kartarpur Sahib Gurdwara through the corridor from Sunday midnight, besides movement of all types of passengers to Pakistan through international border points.

All types of passenger movement were suspended on Saturday night through the Indo-Bangla, Indo-Nepal, Indo-Bhutan and Indo-Myanmar borders, barring a few specified border checkposts.

Moreover, in a video-conference of SAARC members, Prime Minister Narendra Modi proposed setting up a COVID-19 emergency fund with India committing USD 10 million initially for it, and asserted that the best way to deal with the pandemic, which has now reportedly killed more than 6,000 people across the world, was by coming together and not growing apart.

Apart from Modi, Sri Lankan President Gotabaya Rajapaksa, Maldivian President Ibrahim Mohamed Solih, Nepalese Prime Minister K P Sharma Oli, Bhutanese premier Lotay Tshering, Bangladeshi Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, Afghan President Ashraf Ghani and Special Assistant to the Pakistani Prime Minister on Health Zafar Mirza participated in the video-conference.

According to the Union Health Ministry, there are 110 cases in India so far, including the two persons who died in Delhi and Karnataka and 17 foreigners. Ten patients have been discharged.