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'Insurance catastrophe' for businesses as coronavirus not covered By Charlotte Grieve The Insurance Council of Australia has declared an "insurance catastrophe" as the industry braces for a spike in coronavirus-related claims while policies largely exclude quarantinable diseases. Business interruption insurance policies typically cover staff wages and rent or loan repayments during catastrophic events. In the past, this extended to infectious diseases but in 2004, the global insurance industry began to introduce exclusions for losses relating to quarantinable diseases, according to the ICA. ICA spokesman Campbell Fuller said while there was not a one-size-fits-all approach to insurance policies, and some individualised policies may include pandemic cover, most business insurance products exclude pandemics simply because the uncertainty of the risk is too high. "Insurers are always about calculating the risk, how do you calculate the impact of the pandemic?" …

'Not enough capital': Insurer says government to pay for COVID-19 By Charlotte Grieve Insurance Australia Group chief executive Peter Harmer says there is not enough capital in the insurance industry globally to cover the financial fallout from COVID-19, as the insurer posted a 60 per cent fall in profit. Mr Harmer said it was the government’s responsibility to foot the bill for the pandemic ahead of the NSW Supreme Court’s decision on whether insurance policies that exclude pandemics are valid. “There is a size of loss that becomes quite systemic where the government needs to act as a shock absorber,” Mr Harmer said. “The government has an interest in making sure we have a viable, sustainable industry.” IAG chief executive Peter Harmer said catastrophic weather events and the pandemic in the second half had undermined the company's bottom line.CREDIT:ANTHONY JOHNSON The test case will determine if insurance policies that rely on an outdated definition o…