Insurance brokerage and advisory firm Willis Towers Watson (WTW) says Covid-19 related losses will be $32bn across the US and UK if social distancing measures last for six months.

The biggest driver for losses is expected to be business interruption coverage and other products related to continuity costs, with highs of $11.3bn expected in the US and $6.7bn in the UK.

This length of time was the “moderate” assumption used to assess the impact of the virus in its research, and the cost rose to $80bn when it modelled the “severe” scenario of 12 months.

After the insured business interruption impact, the next largest cost in WTW’s moderate impact scenario is workers’ compensation coverage, with several commercial protection products following.

Willis Towers Watson insured impact modelled using “optimistic” to “severe” assumptions (Credit: Willis Towers Watson)