Big news! Modi govt to provide free Rs 5 lakh health insurance for kids orphaned by COVID-19

Several children across the country have become orphans after lost their parents due to COVID-19. To help these children, the Narendra Modi government has made a big announcement. The government has decided to provide free health insurance of Rs 5 lakh to the children orphaned due to coronavirus, whose premium will be filled from the PM Cares Fund.

As part of the steps to take care of children affected by the pandemic, children up to 18 years of age will be given free health insurance up to Rs 5 lakh under the Ayushman Bharat scheme. The announcement was made by Union Minister Anurag Thakur. 

"As part of the steps taken to take care of children affected by Covid, children up to 18 years will be given free health insurance of Rs 5 lakh under Ayushman Bharat and its premium will be paid by PM Cares," Thakur tweeted.

कोविड से प्रभावित बच्चों के देखभाल हेतु उठाए कदमों के तहत 18 साल तक के बच्चों को आयुष्मान भारत के तहत 5 लाख रुपये का मुफ्त स्वास्थ्य बीमा दिया जाएगा और इसके प्रीमियम का भुगतान पीएम केयर्स द्वारा किया जाएगा। #MonsoonSession https://t.co/Gxpj7sFlYV pic.twitter.com/kfa7fTWigq

— Office of Mr. Anurag Thakur (@Anurag_Office) August 4, 2021

The minister also shared the details of the scheme on Twitter along with a link to a government website on the steps taken by the Center to make India self-reliant. He also shared a picture, which reads that children up to 18 years of age who have lost their parents to the COVID-19 infection will be given relief every month. Apart from this, at the age of 23, an assistance amount of Rs 10 lakh will also be given to these children.

On May 29 this year, Prime Minister Narendra Modi started the PM Cares for Children scheme. The purpose of this scheme is to take care of children who have lost their parents or legal guardians in the pandemic after 11 March 2020.

With 42,982 new cases of Covid-19 in a day on Thursday, India's total number of infection cases has increased to 3,18,12,114, while the number of active patients has increased to 4,11,076. According to the data released by the Union Health Ministry, the death toll has increased to 4,26,290 due to the loss of 533 more patients in the last 24 hours. The number of active patients is 1.29 percent of the total cases of infection, while the national rate of people recovering from Covid-19 is 97.37 percent.