Coronavirus: Will I Be Covered By Business Interruption Insurance ?

verified information

verificator-profile-picture-profile-picture

Information verified by  Adeline Harmant

Our articles are written by experts in their fields (finance, trading, insurance etc.) whose signatures you will see at the beginning and at the end of each article. They are also systematically reviewed and corrected before each publication, and updated regularly.

Discover the methodology
author-profile-picture
Alexandre Desoutter updated on September 30, 2020

You took a business insurance, and you want to know at what extend this insurance could cover you in time of coronavirus?

You've come to the right place. In this guide, we compiled informations, so that you you can untangle the true from the false on the coronavirus and if you're covered or not by your business insurance.

How business insurance work?

Standard commercial policies cover your business against usually things such as fire, theft, work accidents.

Small businesses are not covered from infections, this is quite rare to be covered for this kind of situations.

Can you be covered by business interruption insurance?

First thing, let's examine the exact definition of this insurance.

This insurance protects you against an interruption in your business that will:

  • Cause a drop in your revenue, or
  • Cause a loss of income due to a particular situation, or event.

These situations are usually listed into the policy. This insurance can protect you against lost profit.

What business interruption insurance covers exactly?

Most contracts will list the exact things that are covered by business interruption insurance:

  • Fire
  • Flood
  • Storm
  • Accidents (employees accidents for example).

There a also policies that tare covering particular situations such as work interruption due to exceptional situations: police intervention, collapsing building...

The question that we can legitimately ask ourselves is: does business interruption cover work interruption caused by coronavirus?

Does business interruption cover work interruption caused by coronavirus?

Standard business policy will generally not cover covid 19, in case of work interruption.

As, all the situations must be listed, and generally infections or general disease are not in the list, small or biggest businesses won't be able to claim on this basis.

And if you have the notifiable disease extension, are you covered against covid-19?

If you added to your business insurance the extension that covers your business against notifiable or infectious diseases, it may work. But this type of extension is rare.

It is better to check directly with provider or broker to see the extend of the coverage.

The only problem is that diseases usually are listed on the contract. If you have disease extension and they are not listed, you can be covered.

Are there any extensions that can cover coronavirus if you have a business interruption insurance?

You can be covered if you took this particular extension "non-damage, denial of access".

This is quite a rare extension to add.

What means "non damage, denial of access"?

This add-on is referring to a loss of income resulting on a physical incapacity to go to the work place for example cordoned off areas. If denial of access is a consequence of covid-19, maybe this extension can work.

Did you like this article?
author-profile-picture/
Alexandre Desoutter
hellosafe-logo
hellosafe-logo

Alexandre Desoutter has been working as editor-in-chief and head of press relations at HelloSafe since June 2020. A graduate of Sciences Po Grenoble, he worked as a journalist for several years in French media, and continues to collaborate as a as a contributor to several publications.

In this sense, his role leads him to carry out steering and support work with all HelloSafe editors and contributors so that the editorial line defined by the company is fully respected. and declined through the texts published daily on our platforms.

As such, Alexandre is responsible for implementing and maintaining the strictest journalistic standards within the HelloSafe editorial staff, in order to guarantee the most accurate, up-to-date information on our platforms. and expert as possible. Alexandre has in particular undertaken for two years now the implementation of a system of systematic double-checking of all the articles published within the HelloSafe ecosystem, able to guarantee the highest quality of information.