Kerala to give aid of ₹3L for children who lost their parents to COVID-19

Thiruvananthapuram: The Kerala government on Thursday announced 'one-time' financial help of ₹3 lakh for children who lost their parents due to coronavirus.

Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan said ₹2,000 per month will be given to the children till 18 years of age. Besides, the state government will bear the cost of their education till degree-level, CM Vijayan added.

"One-time financial help of ₹3 lakhs will be given to the children who have lost their parents due to Covid-19. ₹2000 per month will be given to these children till the 18 years of age. The state government will bear the cost of their education till degree-level," Kerala chief minister said in a statement.

Not just Kerala, several other state governments have announced financial aid, as well as, educational support for children whose parents died due to Covid-19.

For instance, Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal had said the educational expenses of the children who have lost their parents due to covid-19 will be taken care of by the government. The CM had also said that the Delhi government will provide the complete expense of the upbringing of such children.

Moreover, Odisha and Manipur governments had also decided to take care of children who have become orphans after losing their parents to coronavirus.

Yesterday Women and Child Development Minister Smriti Irani said that as many as 577 children across the country were orphaned after their parents passed away due to Covid-19.

She added that the government was committed to support and protect every vulnerable child who lost both parents to Covid.

Kerala logged 24,166 fresh Covid-19 cases on Thursday, taking the caseload to 24,18,529, while 181 deaths pushed the toll to 8,063.

On Thursday, recoveries outnumbered new cases with 30,539 people under treatment testing negative for the virus, taking the total recoveries to 21,98,135.

The state's active cases stood at 2,41,966.