Amid a surge in coronavirus cases in several countries, regulator Irdai has asked insurers to consider giving discount on renewal of general and health insurance policies to policyholders who have taken three shots of COVID-19 vaccine.

The Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority of India (Irdai) has also asked both life and non-life insurance companies to settle COVID-related claims at the earliest and reduce paper work, sources said.

During a meeting to create awareness about COVID-19 last week, sources said, the regulator also stressed that insurers should offer incentives to policyholders on getting RT-PCR tests done through their wellness network.

It asked insurers to encourage COVID-appropriate behaviour through the social media outreach.

With regard to overseas travel insurance, Irdai asked underwriters of such policies to spread information about COVID testing requirements of various countries.

The regulator also urged insurers to ensure that empanelled hospitals are prohibited from taking deposit for COVID-19 hospitalisation, sources said, adding, some of the hospitals indulged in asking for deposit for COVID treatment during the first and second wave despite having cashless policy.

The insurers should create a war room for COVID-related assistance to all stakeholders for the worst case scenario, the regulator asked the industry adding that data should be reported in a set format so that there is no discrepancy.

On the other hand, the insurers asked the regulator to look at standardisation of treatment protocol so that fraud cases are minimised.

Over 2.25 lakh death claims due to COVID were settled by insurance companies up to March 2022, Irdai said in its annual report released last week.

It further said general insurers and standalone health insurers received a huge number of COVID treatment related claims which the industry handled "quite efficiently" and settled claims worth Rs 25,000 crore.

As per the data in the report, a total of 26,54,001 health insurance claims were settled.

Insurance companies settled over 2.25 lakh death claims on account of the pandemic and paid Rs 17,269 crore towards claims up to March 31, 2022.