Insurance regulator Irdai on Monday said health insurance policies that cover Covid treatment costs will also cover expenses for treating the Omicron variant.

“All health insurance policies issued by all general and health insurance companies that cover treatment costs of Covid-19 also cover the costs of treatment towards the Omicron variant of Covid-19 under the terms and conditions of the policy contract,” the Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority of India (IRDAI) said in a release.

The regulator has issued the directive to general and health insurers in view of the growing number of cases of the Omicron variant.

The regulator has also asked insurance companies to put in place an effective co-ordination mechanism with all their network providers and hospitals to make available seamless cashless facilities to all policyholders in case of hospitalisation and render speedy services to all policyholders.

In April 2020 also, Irdai had clarified that all the indemnity based health insurance products that cover the treatment costs of hospitalisation offered by all general and health insurance companies cover the costs of hospitalisation treatment on account of Covid-19.

Total 1,700 cases of the Omicron variant of the coronavirus have been detected across 23 states and Union Territories so far, of which 639 have recovered or migrated, according to the Union health ministry’s data updated on Monday.

Maharashtra has recorded the maximum number of 510 cases, followed by Delhi (351), Kerala (156), Gujarat (136), Tamil Nadu (121) and Rajasthan (120).

India’s Covid tally rose to 3,49,22,882 with 33,750 fresh cases, according to the data updated at 8 am.

The death toll climbed to 4,81,893 with 123 more fatalities, the data showed. The active cases have increased to 1,45,582 comprising 0.42 per cent of the total infections, while the national Covid-19 recovery rate was recorded at 98.20 per cent, the health ministry said.

WTO meet

India has sought an emergency meeting of the General Council of the World Trade Organisation (WTO) this month in Geneva to deliberate upon the world trade body’s proposed response package, including patent waiver proposal, to deal with the pandemic amid rising coronavirus infections globally, an official said.

The General Council is WTO’s highest decision-making body in Geneva. It meets regularly to carry out the functions of WTO. It has representatives (usually ambassadors or equivalent) from all member governments and has the authority to act on behalf of the ministerial conference which only meets about every two years.