AP to start fixed deposit of ₹ 10L for children who lost parents to COVID-19

Amaravati: Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister Y.S Jagan Mohan Reddy on 17 May announced a fixed deposit of Rs. 10 lakhs for every child who lost his/her parents to COVID-19 that will be payable once the child turns 25.

The CM has instructed officials to carve out a financial package with the banks and to work on providing the best interest amount that the child/guardian can receive every month. He asked the officials to prepare an action plan for the same.

The Andhra Pradesh government has also further extended the partial curfew in the state till the end of May. Jagan added that there is a need to extend the curfew to further bring down the cases in the state. He also pointed out that there is an increase in the number of cases in rural areas which needs more focus to prevent the spread of the virus.

The CM has also taken stock of the oxygen supply that the state has been receiving. The officials informed Jagan that around eight ISO containers have arrived in AP. The state is currently allocating 590 metric tonnes, while all public and private hospitals together have a daily demand of 590- 610 MT of oxygen. The state government is also requesting the Center to allocate one Oxygen Express with a capacity of 80 MT per day from Jamnagar, as well as 130 MT of oxygen supply per day from Bellary, Karnataka.

Regarding the vaccination drive, the officials said that around 21.74 lakh people have received both doses whereas 31.59 lakh people have received the first dose. Around 76 lakh doses have been received by the Centre while the state was allocated 16,85,630 doses and has received 10,88,120 doses.