Underwriters puzzle over how to make pandemics insurable again

All set: Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games mascot Miraitowa with a display of the Olympic symbol. The cancellation of the Olympics would result in a large loss of US$2bil to US$3bil, insurance sources say. — Reuters

LONDON: When much of the global economy locked down last year, insurers, facing estimated losses of more than US$100bil (RM410bil) globally, reached straight for their red pens to strike pandemic cover from all new business policies.

Denis Kessler, chairman and CEO of French reinsurer SCOR, summed it up when he told a recent conference that pandemic risk was like war.