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Eco/Invest/Demography

Insurers rewrite business policies after pandemic legal tussles

New policies and renewals now define terms like “communicable disease” or “microorganism” – something existing policies often lacked, and which led to a flood of lawsuits that insurers have so far largely won.

An exclusion drafted by the Lloyd’s Market Association, for example, says insurers will not cover any claim “directly or indirectly arising out of, attributable to, or occurring concurrently or in any sequence with a Communicable Disease.”

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Surge in daily COVID-19 cases, India records over 17,000 new infections

The increase in the numbers continued to be driven by Maharashtra, which recorded the highest daily cases in 137 days with 9,855 patients testing positive for the virus.

The last time Maharashtra exceeded this number was on October 17 when the state had recorded 10,259 cases. Punjab, too, recorded a spurt in cases with 778 patients testing positive — the highest since December 6.

At 2,765, Kerala recorded the highest number of cases after Maharashtra.

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French families sue over extensive nursing home virus deaths

Their complaint focuses on multiple issues at French homes for the elderly and disabled during the first half of 2020. Those flaws included mask shortages for residents and staff; testing shortages; the use of a powerful sedative called Rivotril on some residents while homes were locked down; and opaque decisions on which residents received hospital treatment for the virus and which were left to suffer or die in their nursing homes.

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Why world’s power grids are increasingly vulnerable to cyber attacks

“Essential state infrastructures like power grids and nuclear reactors have been and will continue to be a target of cyber attacks because modernization allows internet connectivity, which makes them vulnerable,” said Kim Seungjoo, a professor at Korea University’s School of Cybersecurity.

“It’s almost a natural instinct of hackers, especially the state-sponsored ones, to attack energy infrastructure because they can easily disrupt national security.”

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