The Covid-19 wage supplement for businesses will be extended until the end of January, Prime Minister Robert Abela has announced.

He was giving comments to TVM in Brussels, where he is attending an EU Summit.

Abela said the government has decided to extend the scheme so that jobs will not be lost and small businesses will not be left alone to deal with the effects of the pandemic.

The plan was for the wage supplement to end in December. The government had already started tapering the benefit in June of this year.