Chinanews.com, May 19. According to Hong Kong Wenhui.com, the Hong Kong SAR government established the "Anti-epidemic Fund" in February 2020 to provide suitable services to industries and citizens that have been severely hit by the epidemic or have been greatly affected by anti-epidemic measures. Cut assistance.
The Financial Secretary of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region Government, Chen Maobo, said on the 18th that the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region Government has been approved by the Legislative Council to inject a total of 250.9 billion yuan (HK$, the same below) into the fund, and launched 6 rounds of a total of more than 220 measures.
Chen Maobo pointed out that the fund measures include 2 rounds of "employment protection" plan, 3 rounds of "job creation plan", more than 180 measures to support industries and people hit hard by the epidemic and the tightening of social distancing measures, and more than 20 related to epidemic prevention. measures, etc.
As of the beginning of May this year, the SAR government has used the fund of more than 170 billion yuan, benefiting more than 7 million person-times and 950,000 applications submitted by enterprises/businesses.
Chen Maobo said that since the outbreak of the epidemic, the SAR government has launched more than 20 measures related to strengthening epidemic prevention and anti-epidemic work through the fund, including granting funds to the Hospital Authority to fight the epidemic, especially to ensure that frontline medical staff receive adequate support and protection.
The total commitment of these measures is about 25 billion yuan, accounting for about 10% of the total commitment of the Fund's measures.
Chen Maobo mentioned that in addition to funding through the Fund, the SAR Government has also provided additional resources for the HA to fight the epidemic through other channels, including an additional allocation of $3 billion to the HA in September 2020 to increase service capacity, To cope with the fourth wave of the epidemic; provide an additional allocation of $7.5 billion to the HA in 2022-23, and provide the HA with more than $1.1 billion to continue supporting its work in various areas, including the operation of the North Lantau Hospital Hong Kong Infection Control Centre and the implementation of Vaccination schedule, etc.
As of the end of February this year, the HA's expenditure on implementing various anti-epidemic measures was $8.565 billion, of which manpower-related expenses accounted for about $3.1 billion.