As more frequent pandemics are expected, insurers face difficult choices

While pandemics were historically regarded as one in 100 or 200-year events, data predicts shorter periods between these devastating events, Gen Re's pricing actuary in South Africa, Koop Lubbinge, told delegates at this year's Actuarial Society South Africa's Convention.

"I think we're talking one-in 25 or one-in-50 [years]. And the drivers behind that is the number of near misses that we've had in the recent past," he said, citing the SARS and MERS virus outbreaks in the early 2000s.