The Central government on Saturday declared coronavirus as a “notified disaster” for the purpose of providing assistance under the State Disaster Response Fund (SDRF).
This means now the states can spend a larger chunk of funds from SDRF to fight the pandemic.
In a letter issued to all the Chief Secretaries of all the states, the Home Ministry has said that the hospitalisation cost of coronavirus patients will also be taken care of at the rate fixed by the state government from the SDRF’s fund.
Attached is a modification of the order quoted in the tweet below, for kind information.#COVID2019 #COVID19India https://t.co/uNSiKOZTs4 pic.twitter.com/r6ePtc2AHs
— Spokesperson, Ministry of Home Affairs (@PIBHomeAffairs) March 14, 2020
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The letter states, “The Central government, keeping in view the spread of COVID-19 virus in India and the declaration of COVID-19 as a pandemic by the World Health Organisation (WHO), by way of a special one-time dispensation, has decided to treat it as a notified disaster for the purpose of providing assistance under SDRF”.
Meanwhile, the Padma Award ceremonies scheduled to be held on March 26 and April 3 have been postponed in view of the coronavirus outbreak. This year, the President has approved conferment of 141 Padma Awards.
The World Health Organisation (WHO) has declared the coronavirus as a pandemic and the death toll surged past 5,000 globally. The health body also declared Europe as the epicentre of the pandemic.
Coronavirus, which originated in the Wuhan city of China, has so far spread to more than 100 countries infecting over 1,20,000 people. India has reported two deaths and 84 confirmed cases of the deadly coronavirus.