Coronavirus declared national 'disaster'; govt announces Rs 4 lac ex-gratia for kin of victims

New Delhi: Following the WHO’s declaration of coronavirus as pandemic and the rising number of cases in the country, the central government on Saturday declared COVID-19 as a national ‘disaster’.

“Keeping in view that spread of COVID-19 virus in India the declaration of it as pandemic by World Health Organisation, the Central government has decided to treat it as a notified disaster and announced to provide assistance under State Disaster Response Fund (SDRF),” reads a letter addressed to states and union territories by the Ministry of Home Affairs.

The Central government has decided to provide ex-gratia relief of Rs 4 lakh to the families who died of the virus.

The Centre said that the cost of hospitalization for managing COVID-19 patients would be at the rates fixed by the state governments. The state government can use SDRF found for providing temporary accommodation, food, clothing and medical care for people affected and sheltered in quarantine camps, other than home quarantine, or for cluster containment operations.

The state executive committee will decide the number of quarantine camps, their duration and the number of persons in such camps. “Period can be extended by the committee beyond the prescribed limit subject to condition that expenditure on this account should not exceed 25 percent of SDRF allocation for the year,” the Ministry of Home Affairs notification stated.