How new cases of COVID -19 lead to sharp rise in online cover in China
WeSure, the online insurance platform owned by TenCent, today reported a sharp increase in the number of Chinese customers buying health cover online.
According to the company, the number of new registrations “skyrocketed” this month, with 40% of these new policies coming from residents in Beijing, the region worst affected by the new clusters of the virus.
Last week more than 200 people tested positive for covid-19, according to officials. All schools are now closed in the city and many internal flights have been cancelled.
WeSure chairman and CEO Alan Lau, said: “The outbreak of the covid-19 pandemic has awakened people’s risk awareness. In view of this, insurance companies should think about how to use technology fully to strengthen user education and insurance customisation services to meet the insurance needs of new users.”
WeSure’s mantra is that “one policy protects the whole family.”
In another development, WeSure, Tencent’s insurance platform, has partnered with the Chinese government’s Ministry of Civil Affairs of the People to provide insurance protection for COVID-19 volunteers in the country.
Financially supported by the Tencent Foundation and implemented by WeSure and the China Charity Alliance (CCA) of the Ministry of Civil Affairs – the program will assist volunteers, social workers and Hubei province’s senior care institutions prevent and control COVID-19.
“During these critical times, WeSure remains more committed than ever to protecting China’s medical workers and the broader public. Our full support is behind the fight against Covid-19,” saidAlan Lau, CEO of WeSure in a statement.
The programme has two parts. Special financial support will be offered to volunteer, community workers and social workers who were infected as a result of participating in the prevention and control of coronavirus epidemic in the first part.
Those diagnosed as ‘severe’ and ‘critical’ will receive RMB50,000 ($7,138) guaranteed financial support. The family members of the deceased community workers will receive a compensation of RMB250,000 ($35,690).
All the volunteers, community workers, and social workers, who have been participating in the prevention and control of the epidemic, nationwide will be offered special insurance protection from WeSure in the second part of the programme.
According to the Ministry of Civil Affairs, 146 million volunteers are working in the field and take daily risk of getting infected through close contact with medical staff and a significant amount of residents. By the first week of March, 53 urban and rural community workers died in the fight against the Covid-19 outbreak, which significantly raised the demand for protection on the group’s safety and essential benefits.
WeSure also launched the Covid-19 coverage to all WeChat users with a minimum 10,000 yuan cash compensation. Users can sign up for the universal insurance for free by accessing WeSure’s service within WeChat. Through WeSure’s Mini-Program on WeChat, the insured users can submit claims online.
culled from internationalinvestment.net
