Insurance companies deny policies covering SARS cases in major events

Insurance companies are now ruling out policies covering cases of Severe and Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS) in big-time events like congress, sport competitions and tradeshows.

The rare disease has already caused over a hundred deaths all around the globe and its spread has made a dent in tourism, business travel and lots of other economic activities.

Insurance firms decided to discard this kind of policy as soon as they realized it was going to be extremely hard to get a handle on the spread of SARS.

Insurance policies for such events as sport competitions, concerts and congress are usually underwritten for several months in advance, so many other events scheduled to take place in the short run are covered, too.

However, companies handing out those policies have settled on explicitly excluding their responsibility in case of massive spread in one of those big events.

“Contagiousness chances are so huge that it’d be like ensuring a burning building,” said Scott Brady from Aon Corp., an insurance firm. Mr. Brady added those companies took the same precautions during the outbreak of foot-and-mouth disease that swept Europe some time ago.