The Agency for Social Protection has over the past eight days received a total of 752 applications for welfare assistance, which constitutes over half the applications the agency received over the course of last year.

Speaking at a press conference on Thursday afternoon, chief executive officer of ASP Marcus Simeon noted the large proportion of the population who have been adversely impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic, most notably those in informal sectors which are somewhat reliant on the tourism industry and which therefore do not qualify for the income replacement programme of the Ministry of Finance, Trade, Investment and Economic Planning.

“These are persons in informal sectors or who were seeking employment during the period before the pandemic and these are the groups of people that we are targeting right now. We are advising that we do not offer an income supplementation programme but rather offer a safety net, or income supplementation programme towards ensuring a household has access to basic goods and essentials” said CEO Simeon.

Mr Simeon further noted that the agency will remain open during the restrictive movement order as it is providing an essential service, but is however limiting the applications to 20 persons per day.

More details in out issue of Tuesday April 14, 2020