36,886 receive RM300 aid – CM

KOTA KINABALU: A total of 36,886 people have benefited from the State Government's RM300 one-off cash assistance thus far, said Chief Minister Datuk Seri Shafie Apdal.

The aid, which was part of the State Government's Covid19 Assistance Package initiative, amounted to RM11,065,800.

Shafie said 25,157 of the recipients were general aid recipients, 2,197 were orphan recipients and remaining 14,532 were senior citizens, single parents, persons with disabilities (OKU) and patients suffering from chronic diseases.

“Each of them received RM300,” he said in a statement yesterday.

Shafie said he had personally inspected the implementation status of the initiative and he had instructed the Sabah Covid19 Command Centre to continue to inspect and expedite the distribution of all the assistance packages.

He added that food supply assistance amounting to RM189,560 had been distributed to 2,554 Sabahan students in 33 public and private higher learning institutes in West Malaysia.

On top of that, a total of RM500,000 had been given to Universiti Malaysia Sabah (UMS) to assist its students in the Kota Kinabalu, Labuan and Sandakan campuses throughout this Movement Control Order period.

He further revealed that a total of RM91,440 had been spent on the food supply for the 2,076 people who are currently placed in the 17 quarantine centres in Sabah.

The State Government had also spent RM2,354 on 20 homeless children in Sabah who are currently placed under quarantine.

“The amount may increase from time to time, depending on the number of persons under investigation (PUI) who will be placed in the quarantine centres in Sabah,” said Shafie.

He also said that 22 Covid-19 patients in Sabah had received their RM500 one-off cash assistance.

“The remaining 188 Covid-19 patients will receive the payment once their bank account details have been obtained,” explained Shafie.

He added that a total of 410 people from the poor and hardcore poor category had also received their RM500 one-off cash assistance and that another 12,678 people from the said category will soon receive their payment.

“A total of 108,632 of householders in the 60 state constituencies in the state had also received food supply assistance amounting to RM10,863,200,” he added.

He also disclosed that on March 30, the State Government had donated RM1 million to the frontliners, such as those from Health Department, Immigration Department, the armed forces, customs, police, RELA, ESSCom and the Civil Defence Force.