Many travel insurance policies provide cover should you wish to cancel your holiday. However, this will only be for limited reasons which include injury, illness or death of yourself or a travelling companion or relative. Some notable items covered are being called for jury service or redundancy. The cover does not include cancelling a holiday due to the fear of an epidemic or pandemic.
An epidemic, such as the Coronavirus (COVID-19), is judged as an increase, often rapid, in the number of cases of a disease above what would normally be expected to normally occur in the population of that area. A pandemic is an epidemic spreading over several countries or continents, affecting a large number of people. The cover would be declined under the term ‘disinclination to travel’.
There are exceptions to this where a person has an underlying health condition which may be adversely affected by the epidemic and have a letter from their doctor advising against travel to the area.