“There’ve been some concerning instances of onward 2019nCoV spread from people with no travel history to China. The detection of a small number of cases may indicate more widespread transmission in other countries; in short, we may only be seeing the tip of the iceberg,” tweeted Ghebreyesus, Director-General of the WHO.

“The outbreak is raising awareness among Thais about the need for health insurance,” Unchalin said in a phone interview. “The revenue from the new policy is unlikely to be material, but our main goal to calm the public’s fears during this coronavirus crisis.”

“My biggest worry is that there are countries today who do not have the systems in place to detect people who have contracted with the virus, even if it were to emerge,” said Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, WHO Director-General.
“Urgent support is needed to bolster weak health systems to detect, diagnose and care for people with the virus, to prevent further human to human transmission and protect health workers.”

In China, cities have been shut off, flights canceled and factories closed, shutting supply lines crucial to the world economy. Companies including Hyundai Motor, Tesla , Ford, PSA Peugeot Citroen, Nissan , Airbus, Adidas and Foxconn are taking hits.

While the claim expenses associated with the outbreak remain uncertain, medical costs for future treatments may burden insurers. As of 3 February 2020, the Ministry of Finance and local governments have planned to allocate total funding of CNY47bn ($6.7bn) to assume responsibility of medical-related costs.

Worldwide, the virus, so far, has spread to Thailand, Singapore, Japan, South Korea, Australia, Malaysia, Taiwan, Vietnam, Macau, India, Philippines, Nepal, Sri Lanka, Cambodia, United States, Canada, Germany, France, Britain, Italy, Russia, Finland, Spain, UAE and Sweden.