Fifty-five commercial insurance companies in Guangdong province have loosened requirements on compensation to clients to better serve patients during the novel coronavirus epidemic.

The requirements include those on selection of hospitals for medical treatment, social medical insurance spending during the treatment, medicines used but not covered by social medical insurance and procedures for extending hospital time, said Ren Qinghua, deputy director of the Guangdong bureau of the China Banking and Insurance Regulatory Commission, at a press conference in Guangzhou on Friday.

Some commercial insurance companies in cities like Zhuhai and Foshan in Guangdong have expanded coverage of their products by working with local social medical insurance institutions.

Commercial insurance companies in Guangdong have so far paid 710,800 yuan ($101,799) to 14 patients infected with novel coronavirus.

Online processing of cases has been adopted during the epidemic. In one case, a patient in Foshan received compensation half an hour after uploading related documents online, Ren said.

Commercial insurance companies in Guangdong have donated insurance products to police officers, medical workers, volunteers and some of their family members to support their contribution to epidemic control.

Thirty-three of them have so far provided free products to 2.3 million people, with coverage totaling 1.2 trillion yuan ($171.9 billion), Ren said.