None of the residents within the eight homes for the elderly owned by the State including Saint Vincent de Paul have contracted coronavirus, Social Policy Minister Michael Falzon said on Wednesday morning.
However, he declined to give any information on the total number of cases reported in private homes. So far, the only confirmed case emerged on Tuesday when a record number of 52 persons tested positive in one day since the start of the outbreak a month ago.
The clarification on the situation in State homes was made during a news conference in which the ministry announced that by Saturday the first batch of financial aid for applicants of the COVID-19 social measures would have been distributed.
To date, close to 6,000 applications have been submitted for the four schemes under which the maximum eligible benefit is of €800 per month for full-timers and €500 for part-timers.
These schemes cater for working parents in the private sector who had to remain at home to look after their children, employees who lost their jobs due to the economic slowdown and disabled employees within the private sector who were advised not to go to work and cannot telework. A fourth category is for private sector employees who were advised to remain at home due to their vulnerable medical condition.
Social Policy Ministry permanent secretary Mark Musu said that 5,994 applications had been received, the bulk of which were for the parents’ scheme which totalled 4,449.
More than half, 3,101 applications have been processed and the first batch of payments in excess of €1.1 million would be deposited to the beneficiaries’ bank account on Thursday or sent by cheque by Saturday.
He noted that 10% of the payment would be deducted as national insurance contribution, while applicants would keep receiving other financial aid such as disability and in-work benefits.
So far, the number of applicants seeking financial aid after losing their job totalled 279, prompting the social policy minister to remark that government’s measures to mitigate layoffs seemed to be having the desired effects.
Efforts to deliver food to households
The social policy minister outlined other initiatives being taken by various entities falling under his remit such as the State-funded food distribution scheme run by Appoġġ. He said efforts were being made to deliver the food directly to the homes of the 20,000 beneficiaries.
He also referred to the 1772 helpline for the lonely, run by the same agency, which he said had been contacted by around 500 persons in the first five days.