Dehradun: Uttarakhand Chief Minister Tirath Singh Rawat on Saturday announced a scheme for education and employment of children who lost their parents due to the COVID-19 pandemic.


Such children will be given a monthly allowance of Rs 3,000 under the scheme named Mukhya Mantri Vatsalya Yojana up to the age of 21, an official statement here said.


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The state government will also take care of their education and reserve five percent of government jobs for them under the scheme, it said.


The state has reported over three lakh cases and around 5,600 deaths.


Meanwhile, With black fungus cases rising in Uttarakhand, it was declared a notifiable disease in the state under the Epidemic Act, 1897 on Saturday.


So far, 64 people have been infected with black fungus in the state and of them, four have died.


Black fungus or mucormycosis has been declared a notifiable disease for its coordinated treatment as a growing number of people are contracting the infection post COVID-19, Health Secretary Pankaj Kumar Pandey said.


A notifiable disease is required by law to be reported to the government authorities. The collection of information allows the authorities to monitor the disease and provides early warning of possible outbreaks.


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The state government also issued an SOP on Saturday for the judicious distribution of Amphotericin B, a drug used in treating black fungus patients.


Amphotericin B should be provided to only government medical colleges, institutions and Covid-dedicated hospitals on payment after they formally requisition for its supply on the prescribed format giving details of the patients and nature of infection.


Rashmi Pant and Kailash Gunjyal have been appointed as the nodal officers for scrutinising the requisitions for Kumaon and Garhwal regions respectively, the SOP said.


The current SOP supersedes an earlier order issued on May 18 for the judicious use of the drug, it said.