As of October 8, some 1,970 children nationwide had lost their parents to Covid-19, the data showed.
In the country’s biggest epicentre of Ho Chi Minh City, as many as 1,517 youngsters have lost their mothers, fathers, or both due to Covid-19 according to a report released in mid-September by the Department of Education and Training.
The Children Protection Fund of Vietnam has co-operated with 27 localities nationwide to give financial support of USD 315,652 to 1,427 children orphaned by the Covid-19. Each child is given USD 217. Some 14,330 children who are infected with Covid-19 have also received a financial support of VND 1 million each, Dan Tri Newspaper reported.
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If the orphaned children can’t live with their relatives or are not adopted, local authorities would arrange for them to stay at local social protection centres, the officials of Ministry of Labour, Invalids and Social Affairs said.
Many government agencies and organisations in Vietnam have also stepped in to help young children affected by the pandemic, according to the ministry.
The HCMC Department of Labor, Invalids and Social Affairs has recently announced a monthly subsidy program for orphans affected by Covid-19.
“We had set up a scholarship programme that will fund the education of children affected by the epidemic until they finish high school. So far nearly 400 children have benefited from the program”, Vice chairwoman of the municipal unit of the Ho Chi Minh Young Pioneers Organisation, Nguyen Ngoc Nhung told Vietnam Insider.
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Although the pandemic has gradually been brought under control in Vietnam, it has left a heavy toll. As of Saturday evening, 20,442 people had died in the wave, which had infected 836,134 people, according to local media.
Editing by Vietnam Insider staff.
