New Delhi, Sept 13: Consider  a Covid patient’s suicide as Covid death, said the Supreme Court on Monday.

Hearing on a petition, praying for compensation to the next of kin of a Covid patient, a Bench comprising Justices M.R. Shah and A.S. Bopanna issued directions to the Solicitor General Tushar Mehta who represented the Centre to reconsider the cases of the Covid patients those have committed suicide for stress or other reasons for the infection.

The Apex Court has scheduled the matter for further hearing on September 23, besides directing the Centre to issue guidelines on ex-gratia assistance for next of kin of those who succumbed to Covid-19 infection.

Earlier, the Health Ministry and the Indian Council of Medical Research held that deaths occurring due to poisoning, suicide, homicide, deaths due to accident are Covid-19 deaths even if Covid-19 is an accompanying condition for them.