Corona declared a notified disaster

New Delhi: The Union government has decided to treat coronavirus as a notified disaster for the purpose of providing assistance under the State Disaster Response Fund (SDRF), Ministry of Home Affairs said in a notification on Saturday.

Listing out assistance to be provided from the SDRF, the government said the hospitalisation cost of coronavirus patients will also be taken care of at the rate fixed by the state government.

According to the latest data provided by the Ministry of Health, the total number of active coronavirus cases in India stands at 84, while 10 people have been treated and discharged.

The death toll in the country stands at two; a 68-year-old woman from West Delhi died at the Ram Manohar Lohia Hospital on Friday, while a 76-year-old man, who had tested positive, died on his way from Hyderabad to his hometown Kalaburagi (Karnataka) on Wednesday.

The Centre clarified that the state governments can use the 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.

The cost of consumables for sample collection would be taken from the funds which can be sued to support for checking, screening and contact tracing.

Further, funds can also be withdrawn for setting up additional testing laboratories within the government set up. The state has also to bear the cost of personal protection equipment for healthcare, municipal, police and fire authorities.

Further SDRF money can also be used for procuring thermal scanners and ventilation and other necessary equipment.

The coronavirus, which originated in China's Wuhan city in December last year, has so far spread to more than 100 countries, infecting over 1,20,000 people.

The World Health Organisation (WHO) has declared coronavirus a pandemic and Europe as its epicentre with more reported cases and deaths than the rest of the world combined, apart from China.