Pandemic insurance doesn't really make sense. Fires are isolated events, and it is incredibly unlikely that every insured business catches fire all at once.

On the other hand, the very nature of a pandemic is that all insured businesses will make their claims at the same time. It's impossible to actually make it work.

"Pandemic insurance could exist ..."

Pandemic insurance does exist:

https://www.insurancebusinessmag.com/us/news/breaking-news/w...

"Meanwhile The Times as well as The Guardian reported the estimated payout for the cancelation to be in excess of £100 million (around $123.7 million). AELTC is said to be in the process of putting together the claim."

Whether pandemic insurance exists or not doesn't change the average cost (except for the insurance company's profit margin). The average cost to society will still be 0.5% even if no one carries insurance for it.

By your own calculation there that's a really tall order for restaurants to afford, and the damages are also hard to tabulate. For flood or fire you can mitigate your risk and clearly value the damages - how exactly do you tabulate for shutting down a restaurant? Who decides what revenues would have been for a new restaurant?

damages could be written into the insurance contract. For example, "During any pandemic period, as defined by WHO, the policyholder may define a single continuous wholly contained subperiod for a claim. A business valuation shall be made of all assets at both the start and end of this subperiod by designated auditor X. The insurance policy shall pay out the difference in valuations."