Madikeri : Total 48 kids across the state have lost both their parents to Covid-19, hundreds more have had one parent snatched from them by the pandemic.

In Kodagu, three children have lost both parents to Covid, while 35 others have lost one of them. Karnataka woman and child welfare minister Shashikala Jolle said, that the department was reaching out to these orphaned kids under the ‘Bala Seva’ project launched by chief minister BS Yediyurappa.

Shashikala, who participated in a meeting in Madikeri to discuss the precautions to be adopted ahead of the expected third wave of Covid-19, instructed officials of her department in Kodagu to ensure that dedicated Covid Care Centres for children were set up in each taluk. She appealed to the district administration to provide the necessary support to the woman and child welfare department to achieve this objective. The minister did not conceal her disappointment with the officials over the leisurely pace at which they were working towards accomplishing the stated goals.

Shashikala said that as many as 2,380 children in Kodagu had contracted Covid-19 in the second wave, with all but 16 of them having recovered from the infection. The minister then appealed to generous benefactors to make donations to improve the lot of the orphaned children, and assured those interested in adopting the unfortunate kids of all the legal support from the department.