Page 40 - Insurance Times August 2021

vaccination confirmation by a person be a good indicator survive and doesn't even shorten the recovery time of those
of his protection and will it save the insurers from covid who do survive.
and covid related risks in future?"
These findings contradict earlier studies that found
Remdesivir to be very effective over hospitalized coronavirus
Dr. Pandit says "Well, vaccination is an important step in
patients and helped them recover faster than patients who
preventing COVID19. Post-vaccination, if detected with
received a placebo. In an observational study from Wuhan,
COVID19, it definitely provides you protection from getting
China, the cardiac injury was seen in 19.7% of patients with
admitted to the ICU, or from going into severe disease and
confirmed coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) and was an
death. The incidence of vaccinated people having severe
independent predictor of in-hospital mortality. Mortality
disease and death is less than 0.5%. It is not 0% but it's
among patients with cardiac injury was 51.2%, compared
extremely good; whereas if you are not vaccinated the risk
with 4.5% among those without cardiac injury (P < .001). In a
would be around 2 to 3% of the general population. Also, we
Cox regression model, patients with cardiac injury (vs without)
need to understand that the vaccinated person generally
had more than a fourfold increased risk for death during the
develops enough antibodies to avoid infection, but a small
time from symptom onset to death.
number of patients could still get infected but would have
asymptomatic or mild disease & they could spread to others." In a report on nearly 4000 COVID-19 patients from the UK who
were admitted to intensive care units (ICUs), two-thirds of the
Conclusion subset who required mechanical ventilation died, as did one-
When viruses infect us, they attach to our cells, penetrate, fifth of the subset who required basic respiratory support. For
and make replicas of their RNA, which causes the spread. comparison, the report shows that of ICU patients with viral
Viruses normally keep changing, and thus a new variant or a pneumonia who required mechanical ventilation from 2017 to
strain is born. A variant usually doesn't affect how the virus 2019, slightly more than one-third died.
works. But sometimes they make it act in different ways.
Scientists around the world are tracking changes in the virus But the picture isn't clear yet. No one can authentically
that causes COVID-19. Their research is on, which shall guide conclude about COVID-19 disease or its actual impact - short
experts to understand the pattern of COVID 19 virus, the term and long term or its correct treatment protocol or the
treatment protocol, variant logic and spreading impact, and overall effectiveness of vaccinations. It will be a wait and
how effective the vaccines are going to be. Never know, watch overall.
probably Corona Virus over period may become similar to a
Flu or influenza. But everything is still under study and research Source : WEBMD & MEDSCAPE
mode. A large study sponsored by the W.H.O. found that Disclaimer : Personal views of the author and the Medical
Remdesivir doesn't help hospitalized patients with COVID-19 Expert.

Unclaimed funds with banks near 50000 crore mark

Funds lying unclaimed with banks and insurance companies are nearing the Rs 50,000-crore mark, with an esti-
mated addition of Rs 5,977 crore into bank accounts during 2020.
While the exact number of insurance policies where money has not been claimed is not immediately available, the
government told Parliament that Rs 24,356 crore was lying in over 8.1 crore accounts. This translates into an aver-
age balance of around Rs 3,000 in each of the accounts.
The nationalised banks are close to the average, with Rs 3,030 being the average balance, which was Rs 2,710 in
case of and Rs 3,340 for private lenders. In contrast, foreign banks on an average had Rs 9,250 lying unclaimed in
over 6.6 lakh accounts. At Rs 654, the average balance was lowest in case of small finance banks, while it was just
under Rs 1,600 for regional rural banks.

Unclaimed funds have been a perennial problem as several policyholders or their family members do not claim the
maturity amount from insurance companies for multiple reasons. For instance, in several cases, the family members
of the policyholder are unaware of the insurance cover purchased. Similarly, in many cases, either the documents
are misplaced or the buyer misses the maturity date.

40 The Insurance Times, August 2021