The government has paid €2,618,012 in benefits to help workers affected by COVID-19 measures, and so far 7,215 have applied for such social benefits, Family Minister Michael Falzon has said.
Out of the 7,215 applications, 5,637 have been processed, equivalent to 78.1% of the applications.
Falzon was addressing a press conference regarding the updated number of applications for the four schemes which the government has so far announced; Parent benefits, Disability Benefits, Additional Unemployment Benefits and Medical benefits.
Last week, there were 5,994 applications for such social benefits; therefore the Ministry received over a 1000 applications in just a week.
Looking at the figures, 5,043 applications are for Parent benefits, 462 are for Disability Benefits, 1,222 for Medical Benefits, and the lowest number of applications is 487, for Additional Unemployment Benefits. Permanent Secretary Mark Musu highlighted that although the Ministry is not expecting to see numbers dwindle, he noted that the Additional Unemployment Benefits numbers were low, which reflected that employers have adjusted to teleworking and keeping workers, so that employees can keep their job.
Falzon explained that to date there are individuals who have already received the third payment for these weekly benefits.
Musu said that the Social Security Department had set up a helpline (25903000) for those people with queries regarding applications for the schemes, and between 1 March and 12 April, the department received over 32,000 emails and 6,374 telephone calls.
"We must remember that we are not looking at 7,215 individuals, but actually 7,215 families," explained Falzon. He pointed out that the biggest group of applications were for the Parent Benefits scheme, since most parents had to go on leave to take care of their families.
1772 helpline
Falzon highlighted that the 1772 helpline, which is run by Agenzija Appogg receives around 80 calls per day. The helpline was set up for those suffering from solitude due to COVID-19.
When asked for more details regarding those individuals who called 1772, Falzon explained that most calls are received between 9am and 7pm. "There is a mix of people who have called, one person commented that the phone call was the 'highlight of her day', so yes this virus is affecting a lot of people," explained Falzon. He said that there have been cases where the calls were extremely worrying. "We had one caller who was in a very bad state, and the 1772 helpline had to refer the caller to the Crisis Response Team," he said. He explained that most callers are elderly people.
Falzon added that the Ministry is working with an institute of professionals and that in the coming days there will be another service launched to provide psychological help to the public.
Migration decision
When asked whether as Family Minister, Falzon agreed with the Cabinet decision regarding migration, he explained that the decision was taken with the best interest of the country in mind. "As a member of cabinet, we took the decision with the best intentions for the country in mind." When asked whether Falzon considered removing CEO of the Foundation for Social Welfare Services, Alfred Grixti due to the comment he made ("boats carrying refugees should be sunk"), Falzon said that Grixti was speaking about NGO boats, not people. "I have discussed this with Grixti, and he made an apology and clarification of what he meant. I believe this was just a moment where the media were able to discuss something non Covid-19 related and there is no need to call for his resignation."