Andhra Pradesh govt to provide Rs 15,000 for last rites of COVID-19 deceased; Details here

Andhra Pradesh has over 32,500 confirmed total cases of coronavirus.

Coronavirus in India: As incidents of deaths due to coronavirus are on an increase in India, the Andhra Pradesh government on Wednesday announced that it would be giving an amount of Rs 15,000 for conducting the last rites of patients dying due to COVID-19. News agency ANI today quoted state’s Health and Family Welfare Commissioner Katamaneni Bhaskar as saying that the amount would be given to the family members of the deceased if they are the ones performing the last rites.

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If that is not the case, then the amount would be given to the municipal corporation or the panchayat staff who would conduct the last rites of such deceased, he said.

Meanwhile, West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee also announced on Wednesday that in case any COVID-19 warrior loses his or her life due to the infection, a member of the deceased personnel’s family would be given a government job. In a virtual meeting with the authorities of different districts, Banerjee said that as of now, as many as 268 police personnel, 62 government officials, 30 doctors and 43 nurses have been infected with coronavirus-induced COVID-19 in the state.

Andhra Pradesh is one of the states where the cases of coronavirus are rapidly rising and on Tuesday, it climbed to the eighth position among the states with the highest caseload of COVID-19 in the country. As of 4 pm on Wednesday, the southern state had over 32,500 confirmed total cases of coronavirus, of which 16,091 cases were active, according to the state’s coronavirus dashboard. The recovery rate in the state is a little less than 50 per cent. Meanwhile, the number of deaths in the country stood at 452 on Wednesday.

In West Bengal, the number of cases as on Wednesday morning stood at 32,838, according to the Union Ministry of Health and Family Welfare portal. While the number of cases in the state is around the same as Andhra Pradesh, the number of deaths in West Bengal is more than double, standing at 980. However, the number of active cases in the state are also significantly lesser than that in Andhra Pradesh, with around 12,000 active cases. The recovery rate in West Bengal is 60.69%.