Around 19.2 lakh kids lost at least one parent or caregiver to Covid-19 in India during the first 20 months of the pandemic, that is between March 2020 and October 2021, a study published in The Lancet Child & Adolescent Health said.
The peer-reviewed medical journal said that India accounted for the highest number of Covid orphans or children who lost at least one parent, among the 20 countries it studied, spanning though the first two waves.
In total, the number of children who lost a parent during this time stands at 52 lakh, the study said. According to estimates, the figures range from 2,400 in Germany to 19.2 lakh in India — while estimated orphanhood cases per 1,000 kids witnessed highest rates in Peru (8.3) and South Africa (7). While 33 lakh children across the world became orphans due to Covid, an additional 18.3 lakh of them lost a grandparent or an older caregiver at home, the study said.
The number of children that lost a parent to the pandemic almost doubled between 1 May 2021 and 31 October 2021, as compared to the first 14 months of Covid-19.
In India, as many as 3,890 Covid orphans had been registered with the Ministry of Women and Child Development as of February 5, 2022. However, no official data has been received yet. A report by The Hindu BusinessLine, quoting the National Commission for Protection of Child Rights (NCPCR), a total of 3,661 lost both parents to Covid-19 between April 2020 and June 2021, which is around the time the Lancet study was conducted.
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