Will Travel Insurance Cover Cancellations due to Corona Virus outbreak?

Travelers around the globe are worried about the Corona Virus outbreak as the disease is spreading to more countries.

India for example, has reported three more confirmed cases of the Corona virus in the country.

The new cases are giving rise to more fears as people fear there might be unreported cases and carriers might still be mingling with the rest, without any visible symptoms.

Air travel has become tough and authorities are doing as much as they can to screen travelers and quarantine any cases, if detected.

Many countries have issued travel bans and flights are getting cancelled. The question is, will travel insurance cover your costs due to cancellations from the Corona Virus outbreak?

The short answer is that if you’re getting any regular travel insurance, it might not cover Corona Virus. (Source)

Because normal/regular travel insurance policies usually do not cover/protect against any viral outbreaks, epidemics, pandemic or disease outbreak. The Corona Virus outbreak seems to be close to a pandemic as of now, even though there are no official declarations.

According to experts, if you need travel insurance that covers the CoVid 19 disease and canceled travel due to it, you need to buy a “cancel-for-any-reason” travel insurance, which costs higher than regular travel insurance.

Which means that, if you get a travel insurance policy that has a return policy for “any reasons”, then you might be in luck.

However, the return amount might not always be the full amount, but only 75 – 80% of the cost.

You can find “cancel for any reason” travel insurance policies here.

Always double-check with the agent before buying the policy whether it will cover trip cancellations due to an epidemic or virus outbreak.

That’s probably a good way to know whether you’re covered or not.

All the best!

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Mani Karthik

About the Author

Mani Karthik

Ex “NRI” and Founder of the “Back to India” movement. I share my experience about immigrating to USA here.