Aviva first quarter sales rise, estimates $195 million COVID-19 claims

LONDON (Reuters) - British insurer Aviva posted a sharp rise in first-quarter new sales in its life business on Thursday, boosted by bulk annuities, but estimated 160 million pounds in claims related to the coronavirus pandemic.Life new business sales rose by 28% to 12.3 billion pounds in the first quarter and general insurance net written premiums rose 3% to 2.4 billion pounds.Aviva, which has operations in mainland Europe and Canada as well as Britain, said early second-quarter trends showed..