COVID-19: Kerala Government announces special package for orphaned children

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: The Kerala Government on Thursday announced a special package for children orphaned by COVID-19 in the state. chief minister Pinarayi Vijayan said, "We need to take care of the children who have lost their father and mother due to COVID-19.

A special package will be implemented for the care of such children." Under the package, initially, an amount of Rs 3 lakhs will be given to the children as a lump sum.

In addition, an amount of Rs 2,000 per month will also be given till they reach the age of 18. "The government has also decided to bear the cost of their education up to the degree level," he said.

Meanwhile, 24,166 new Covid-19 cases were confirmed in the state today from 1,35,232 sample tests during the last 24 hours. The test positivity rate is projected at 17.87 per cent.

Govt. of Kerala will provide a special package for children who have lost their parents to #Covid19 . ₹3,00,000 will be given as immediate relief and a monthly sum of ₹2,000 will be issued till their 18th birthday. Educational expenses will be covered till graduation.

— CMO Kerala (@CMOKerala) May 27, 2021

At the same time, 181 deaths were established as due to COVID taking the toll to 8,063. Vijayan said the average test positivity rate for May 24-26 is 20.40 per cent as against 22.55 per cent for May 21 -23.

"There has been a 12.61 per cent decline in the number of active cases while the number of new cases per day has decreased by 9.03 per cent", Vijayan said. He said an expert team will look into the high death rate in Pathanamthitta, Palakkad and Kozhikode districts during the last two weeks.

Ophthalmologists, optical shops, shops selling and repairing hearing aid equipment, assistive devices and prostheses, gas stove repair shops, and mobile and computer repair shops will open for two days during the lockdown period.

Vijayan also noted that 74,032 applications have been received till now from healthcare workers including doctors, nurses and pharmacists, to be part of the COVID Brigade. "All of them were contacted and 8,467 people were recruited. 23,975 applications were approved for the COVID Brigade through the National Health Mission and out of these, 17,524 were recruited," the CM added.

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