Japanese insurer Taiju Life Insurance announced on Thursday that it will stop selling its COVID-19 insurance product due to the rapid spread of the virus’ Omicron variant.

Company officials said that the policy, which covers hospitalisation in case the policyholder contracts COVID-19, will no longer be sold, due to possible difficulties in paying out the lump-sum benefit to policyholders, Jiji Press recorded.

The company has shut down sales of the product just six weeks after it was launched on Dec. 21. The product pays a lump sum of ¥100,000 if the policyholder is hospitalised for infectious diseases, such as COVID-19, as well as injuries.

Around 57,000 customers who have already bought the policy will remain insured, the insurer said.

On Friday, the Tokyo metropolitan government reported 21,576 new cases of COVID-19. This is the first time the capital has recorded more than 20,000 new cases in a single day. The Omicron variant, which is said to be much more contagious than the variants that have emerged before it, is blamed for the surge of COVID-19 cases in Japan and around the world.