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Australia’s Floods to Hit Insurers’ Earnings, Put Upward Pressure on Reinsurance Rates

Insured losses from Australia’s March floods are expected to hit general (or property/casualty) insurers’ underwriting margins and earnings in 2021, while putting more upward pressure on reinsurance rates, according to a report from AM Best. The floods, expected to be …

AstraZeneca to Publish Full COVID-19 Vaccine Clinical Trial Results on Efficacy

AstraZeneca will publish up-to-date results from its major U.S. COVID-19 vaccine trial within 48 hours after health officials publicly criticized the drugmaker for using “outdated information” to show how well the immunization worked. The rare public rebuke marks the latest …

U.S. Oversight Board Questions AstraZeneca’s COVID-19 Vaccine Data

AstraZeneca may have released outdated information on its latest COVID-19 vaccine trial, giving an “incomplete” picture of its efficacy, a leading U.S. health agency said on Tuesday, casting doubt on the shot’s potential U.S. rollout and plunging its developers, once …

South Korea Defends Mandatory COVID Testing of Foreign Workers

SEOUL- Authorities in the South Korean capital defended on Thursday a decision to order coronavirus tests for all foreign workers on penalty of fines, as calls grew for the controversial measure to be rescinded. At least one lawmaker of the …

EU Threatens to Ban COVID Vaccine Exports to Britain

BRUSSELS – The European Union threatened on Wednesday to ban exports of COVID-19 vaccines to Britain to safeguard scarce doses for its own citizens facing a third wave of the pandemic that would jeopardize plans to restart travel this summer. …

Passengers Recall COVID Deaths, Confusion, Quarantine Aboard Cruise Ships

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — The last vacation Margrit and Lucio Gonzalez took together began with an ominous delay: a medical emergency on the cruise ship they were set to board. After a four-hour wait, the couple of 51 years got …

Oliver Wyman Predicts COVID Herd Immunity for U.S. by Mid-Summer

The U.S. will reach herd immunity threshold when more than 71% of the U.S. population has been exposed to COVID or effectively vaccinated against it, most likely by mid-summer, says a management consultant firm that has been tracking COVID cases. …

Some States Still Weigh Mandating Business Interruption Coverage

Since about a year ago when their business constituents began complaining that their insurance companies were telling them their policies do not cover their losses from the pandemic, lawmakers in a number of states have responded by filing legislation to …

OSHA to Review COVID-19 Workplace Safety Enforcement Under Trump

Federal workplace safety regulators said on Friday they will revisit several COVID-19 related safety investigations performed during the Trump administration as part of a wider effort to better protect workers from the pandemic. The U.S. Occupational Safety and Health Administration …

P/C Insurers Improved Profitability in Year of Coronavirus: AM Best

Despite the COVID-19 pandemic, the U.S. property/casualty (P/C) industry improved its overall profitability in 2020, with a 68% increase in net underwriting income and combined ratio that improved slightly over the previous year. These preliminary results are from a new …