GEORGE TOWN, Dec 19 — The Penang government has clarified that the one-off RM300 aid for frontliners was based on the list provided by the State Health Department.
The one-off RM300 special allowance for frontliners was part of the state-initiated “Penangite Aid Package” worth RM75 million announced in March this year.
Chief Minister Chow Kon Yeow today said that the state was in no position to know the frontliners on duty.
“The allowance paid in April this year was according to the list provided by the State Health Department. There could be new frontliners who were appointed and went on duty after the allowance was distributed in April,” he told a press conference here.
He also said that frontliners who had been serving before April this year should appeal to the state Health Department.
“The state had decided that the aid would be dispensed for only one round,” he added.
Chow was responding to the frontliners who claimed they had been left out of the special allowance promised by the state government.
Meanwhile, he said that the Covid-19 test lab in Penang was facing a bottleneck following an extension of Enhanced Movement Control Order (EMCO) in Persiaran Paya Terubong flats in Relau, as well as Flat Desa Bistari Blocks A and B in Batu Uban.
He said that the lab can only take around 500 swab samples at a time, which determines the number of swab tests conducted.
“According to the National Security Council, the two localities where EMCO is imposed would require at least a 40 per cent of sample size to be tested for Covid-19 before deciding if the EMCO in the locality should be lifted or not,” he added. — Bernama