Secretary to the Government of the Federation (SGF) and chairman of the Presidential Task Force (PTF) on COVID-19, Mr Boss Mustapha, said PTF has secured life insurance cover for 5,000 health workers employed to fight Covid-19.

He spoke yesterday in Abuja at the 19th joint national briefing of the committee.

“The premium of N112.5m for the cover has been fully paid by the Nigerian insurance industry in line with the principle of no premium, no cover.

“PTF wishes to thank the insurance industry immensely and calls on others sectors of the economy to rise up to support efforts to fight Covid-19.

“I also call on our frontline health workers to double their efforts just as we assure them of our determination to protect them,” he said.

Mustapha also said PTF had embarked on the assessment of the readiness in nine states and that the visits had been quite informative and had led to the committee strengthening collaboration with states.

He said the committee would extend its work to West African neighbours to tackle the virus.

According to him, ECOWAS heads of state on Thursday held a video conference to chart a common course for the sub-region on COVID-19 in consideration of the need to ensure high-level coordination of all the regional efforts to contain the pandemic.

He said the summit appointed President Muhammadu Buhari as champion to coordinate the Covid-19 response and eradication process.

Daily Trust