The Andhra Pradesh government announced that it would provide financial assistance of Rs 5 lakh to family members of accredited journalists who died of Covid in the state. The funds will be taken from the Chief Minister’s Relief Fund, the News Minute reported.

A government order on the assistance was passed by principal secretary V Usharani on Wednesday. The information and public relations commissioner will take necessary action in the matter, the order said.

As per state government data, 8,89,845 coronavirus cases have been registered so far in Andhra Pradesh, of which 1,795 cases are active cases.

“After careful examination of the matter, the government hereby accords sanction of financial assistance of an amount of Rs 5 lakh to the dependents of deceased accredited journalists due to Covid-19, under Chief Minister’s Relief Fund," the order said.

On Monday, the Centre said, via a written reply to a question in the Rajya Sabha, that it approved financial assistance of Rs 5 lakh each for families of journalists who died due to the virus. Union information and broadcasting minister Prakash Javadekar further stated that a special drive for financial assistance had been carried out under the Journalist Welfare Scheme.

According to data from the Press Emblem Campaign, as reported by Business Today, 53 journalists died of Covid in India from March 2020 to December 26, 2020