COVID-19 notified disaster; Centre announces Rs 4 lakh ex-gratia for deaths

New Delhi [India], Mar 14 : The Central government has decided to treat coronavirus as a "notified disaster" for the purpose of providing assistance under the State Disaster Response Fund (SDRF) and has announced an ex-gratia payment of Rs 4 lakhs to families of those who die of coronavirus.

The disaster management division of the Union Home Ministry has issued a letter to the Chief Secretaries of all the states.

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 Orgsation (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".

The World Health Orgsation (WHO) has declared the coronavirus outbreak a 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.

The WHO had declared the coronavirus outbreak a 'pandemic' and expressed deep concern.

( With inputs from ANI )