The Ministry of Home Affairs has increased the assistance available for Covid-19 containment measures from the State Disaster Response Fund (SDRF) up to 50 per cent from the earlier allowed 35 per cent.
The assistance can be used for Covid-19 containment related activities, including providing temporary accommodation, food, clothing and medical care, screening and contact tracing, setting up testing labs, and procuring PPE kits, thermal scanners, ventilators and oxygen generation and storage units, among others , the Ministry said in a letter issued to State Chief Secretaries on Wednesday. The decision was announced by Prime Minister Narendra Modi during his virtual interaction with Chief Ministers of seven worst Covid-hits States and Union Territories on Wednesday.
In a reply given to a question in the Lok Sabha on Sunday, the Ministry had said that there is currently a cumulative sum of ₹28,983 crore available in SDRF of all States, and between April and August, the States have spent a total of ₹11,566 crore.
Positive trend
Meanwhile, there is a positive trend on the Covid-19 front. The number of active Covid-19 cases in the country has been falling continuously for the last six days with new recoveries surpassing fresh cases reported daily. According to data from the Health Ministry, 87,374 people recovered from infection, while 86,508 new cases reported during the last 24 hours. As many 1,129 people succumbed to the Covid-19 infection during the same period.
As a result, the total number of active Covid-19 cases in India fell to 9,66,382 as on Thursday morning.
Since January 30, the day the first Covid-19 case reported in the country, India has 57.3 lakh confirmed cases of which 46.7 lakh people have already recovered. The Covid-19 death toll as of now stood at 91,149.