The Government today said more than $1.04 billion in subsidies has been disbursed to the first batch of successful applicants under two Anti-epidemic Fund schemes.

The two schemes provide financial subsidies to the food business sector and licensed hawkers whose businesses are hard-hit by the COVID-19 epidemic.

The Food & Environmental Hygiene Department said it has been disbursing the subsidies progressively since March 11 to the first batch of successful applicants.

Since both schemes launched on March 5, more than 24,000 applications have been received from food licence holders and more than 4,700 from licensed hawkers.

So far, 7,337 applications from food licence holders and 2,536 applications from licensed hawkers have been approved together with the payments, disbursing more than $1.04 billion in subsidies to the successful applicants.

The department will process other applications as soon as possible to provide assistance to eligible food licence holders and licensed hawkers promptly.

The Food Licence Holders Subsidy Scheme provides financial relief to eight types of food business licence holders. Successful applications will receive a one-off subsidy of $80,000 or $200,000, depending on the type of food licence.

The Licensed Hawkers Subsidy Scheme will offer a subsidy of $5,000 to each eligible licensee holding a valid hawker licence that remains valid when the application is approved.

Click here for more details of the schemes.