India / Death by suicide within 30 days of person testing positive is COVID-19 death: Govt

New Delhi: The Centre submitted an affidavit in Supreme Court on Thursday stating that if a person dies within 30 days of being diagnosed with coronavirus infection, including suicide cases, it will be considered a Covid death.

According to the affidavit, family members of people who have died by suicide within 30 days from being diagnosed as Covid-19 will be entitled to avail financial help as granted under State Disaster Response Force (SDRF) as per health ministry guidelines.

The Centre said that any death certificate issued prior to new guidelines coming into force or rectified by the district level committee shall be treated as a valid document for considering any death as "death due to Covid-19".

Solicitor General Tushar Mehta told the SC that death certificates issued before the new order was put in place can be corrected by raising a plea before the district level committee, which will be set up state governments. States have to set up the grievance redressal committees within 30 days, the Centre said.

The family members of the deceased can raise their grievance before the concerned District Level Committee if the death certificate issued does not recognise it as "death due to Covid-19" and mentions some other incidental cause in the death certificate.

Earlier this month, the Centre had told the Supreme Court that deaths occurring within 30 days from the date of testing or from the date of being clinically determined as a Covid-19 case, will be treated as 'deaths due to Covid-19, even if the death takes place outside the hospital/in-patient facility. Deaths occurring due to poisoning, suicide, homicide, and deaths due to accident, etc. will not be considered as Covid-19 deaths, even if it is an accompanying condition, it added.

The guidelines added that as per the study by Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR), 95% of deaths take place within 25 days of testing positive for Covid.

The guidelines also said that a Covid-19 case, while admitted to the hospital/in-patient facility, and who continued as the same admission beyond 30 days and died subsequently, shall be treated as a Covid-19 death.

NDMA for Rs 50,000 ex-gratia to kin of Covid-19 victims

The National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA) has recommended that Rs 50,000 be given to the kin of those who died of Covid-19, the Centre informed the Supreme Court on Wednesday.

The government said that NDMA has issued the guidelines on September 11 in compliance with the directions of the apex court given on June 30 wherein it had directed the authority to recommend guidelines for ex-gratia assistance.

“The authority recommends an amount of Rs. 50,000 per deceased person including those involved in relief operations or associated in preparedness activities, subject to cause of death being certified as COVID-19,” as per the NDMA guidelines.

The assistance will not be limited to families affected by Covid-19 deaths in first and second wave of pandemic but will continue in future phases of the pandemic as well, the authority said.