The Ministry of Finance has revealed that a total of MVR 33.2 million has been issued as allowances for frontline workers in the Maldives Covid-19 response efforts.

According to the ministry’s statistics, allowances have been approved for a total of 2,989 frontline workers out of which allowances have been issued for 2,948 frontline workers thus far.

The total amount approved to be disbursed as allowances for frontline workers currently is MVR 33.5 million.

Authorities had decided to disburse allowances to frontline workers in the country’s Covid-19 response efforts, from March to June after President Ibrahim Mohamed Solih announced the decision in May.

The allowances are disbursed in three main categories; the first one comprises of high-risk workers who are required to come into direct contact with Covid-19 patients.

Coming at second, medium-risk workers are those that require to work with high-risk workers but do not come into direct contact with Covid-19 patients.

The third category, the low-risk category, is for workers of the Health Emergency Operations Centre (HEOC).

A MVR 500 allowance is given to high-risk workers on a daily basis and MVR 250 is allocated for the second category workers per day. Workers under the third category are entitled to MVR 200 allowances per day.

Earlier, Minister of Finance Ibrahim Ameer noted that allowances are being disbursed under an established system and that they are being paid with “proper documentation and authorization needed for audits and internal control, promoting accountability and due process.”

HEOC earlier said that frontline workers will receive the allowances with their salaries for the month of July.

This comes at a time a numbr of frontline workers in the island nation are testing positive for the new strand of coronavirus, which surfaced in the Maldives on March 7.