LONDON, (Reuters) – Major sports events working to get back up and running after the coronavirus crisis are likely to have to do so without cancellation insurance for communicable diseases as insurers remove cover or ramp up the cost.

Although the Wimbledon tennis championships will be covered by an existing pandemic policy after this week’s event was cancelled due to the coronavirus outbreak, its organisers say it will not be able to get similar cover next year.

This reluctance to offer cover comes after Lloyd’s of London estimated that insurers worldwide will hand over $100 billion in pay-outs this year due to the coronavirus pandemic, including for cancelling sports, music and industry events.

Although only larger sporting competitions usually buy “communicable disease” cover, which comes as an add-on to a cancellation policy, they typically do so at least a year in advance, insurers and brokers said.

Brokers said those few insurers still offering communicable disease cover were asking for an upfront premium of up to 50% of the amounts insured, compared with a fraction of a percentage point before the pandemic, and few were expected to pay this.