Kerala finance minister K.N. Balagopal announced a Covid stimulus package of Rs 20,000 crore in the revised budget presented on Friday.

This is the second stimulus package after his predecessor T.M. Thomas Isaac announced a similar amount to tide over the first wave of the pandemic in March 2020.

An amount of Rs 2,800 crore from the package would be spent on handling the health emergency, Rs 8,900 crore for providing monetary relief to those who lost their livelihood due to the pandemic and Rs 8,300 crore for providing loans and interest subsidy to people to overcome the crisis.

The finance minister noted that there was a sense of hope when daily cases reduced to 3,110 and deaths to 19 when Isaac presented his full budget in February. But the second wave led to a spike in daily cases to 43,000 and deaths at 213 before they began to come down.

Balagopal said one of the main objectives of the government was to provide free vaccines to as many people as possible before a third wave. “Some central policy decisions are still creating some impediments. But vaccines will be made available by solving them by any means,” the finance minister said.

He set aside Rs 1,000 crore for providing free vaccines to everyone above 18 years of age, and another Rs 500 crore for purchasing medical equipment needed to fulfil the mission.

Balagopal also proposed to enhance pediatric facilities in view of the scientific community’s warning that the third wave could impact children. In the first phase, Rs 25 crore would be spent on adding beds in existing pediatric ICUs. New pediatric ICUs would be developed in district hospitals and medical college hospitals.

The budget set aside Rs 10 crore for the Institute of Advanced Virology to begin research on vaccines and explore the possibility of setting up vaccine manufacturing units in the state.