Covid victims’ families to get aid as Kerala sanctions Rs 9.96 crore

Thiruvananthapuram: The Kerala government has sanctioned Rs 9.96 crore in financial assistance for families of people who died of Covid-19, providing relief to poor households that lost their main source of income during the pandemic.

Under the scheme, eligible Below Poverty Line (BPL) families will receive Rs 5,000 every month for three years. The assistance will be transferred directly to the beneficiaries’ bank accounts. The latest allocation was made from the Chief Minister’s Distress Relief Fund based on reports submitted by the district collectors of Kozhikode, Ernakulam and Pathanamthitta.

The assistance comes against the backdrop of the pandemic’s far-reaching impact on global mortality and health systems. The World Health Organization’s World Health Statistics 2026 report estimated that around 22.1 million excess deaths occurred worldwide between 2020 and 2023. The figure is more than three times the roughly seven million Covid deaths officially reported globally.

The pandemic also reversed major health gains made over the previous decade. Global life expectancy fell by 1.8 years between 2019 and 2021, while healthy life expectancy declined by 1.5 years.

Excess deaths peaked in 2021, when an estimated 10.4 million additional deaths were recorded worldwide. The figure fell to 4.9 million in 2022 and 3.3 million in 2023, but the WHO warned that many countries had not returned to their pre-pandemic health status.

The excess mortality figures include both direct Covid deaths and deaths caused indirectly by disrupted healthcare services, delayed treatment and interruptions to vaccination, tuberculosis and HIV programmes.

The WHO report also found that Covid mortality was substantially higher among men, while older people, particularly those above 85, faced the greatest risk.