The Jharkhand government will conduct a survey of social and economic conditions of families of those who died due to Covid-19 during the second wave of the pandemic in a bid to plan welfare schemes, officials said on Sunday.

In a letter addressed to deputy commissioners of all 24 districts in the state, health secretary Arun Kumar Singh directed them to prepare a special team for surveying families of 3,983 residents who died of Covid-19 from March 15 to June 9.

During the survey, the teams will interact with the kin of Covid victims and seek details about the members in the family of the diseased, their source of income, health condition of the family members and other information that will help the government extend support to the needy, many of whom have lost their sole bread-earners, health officials said.

“Since the people who are going to be surveyed have lost their near and dear ones, it is expected that the surveyors maintain sensitivity during the process,” the letter from the health secretary stated.

The districts have been asked to complete the survey and submit findings to the health department by June 25. The health secretary’s letter stated that the districts may take help of District Level Surveillance Officers of the World Health Organisation (WHO) in conducting the survey.

The second wave of Covid-19 claimed at least twice as many lives in Jharkhand as the first wave. According to officials spearheading Jharkhand’s fight against the pandemic, several people belonging to marginalized sections of society lost family members during the second wave.

During the survey, district level teams will also find out if the families of those who died of the lethal infection have ration cards, ayushman cards, Aadhar cards and other documents that would help the government identify such families which have lost their bread earners but do not have access to welfare schemes of the government, officials said.

“The survey findings will help the government plan welfare schemes for the rehabilitation and uplift of the families that have lost their members to Covid-19,” said Dr Siddharth Tripathi, the nodal officer of health department’s Information, Education and Communication (IEC) wing.

As per the recently concluded Integrated Public Health Survey (IPHS) conducted by the state government, over 2,500 rural residents died in Jharkhand from April 1 to May 31. The figure included Covid victims as well as those who died of other causes.