Chief Secretary Matthew Cheung today chaired the Anti-epidemic Fund Steering Committee's fifth meeting to examine the implementation progress of the host of measures launched under the fund.

The committee noted the details of over 20 second-round relief measures have been announced since the Legislative Council Finance Committee approved the $120.5 billion injection to the fund on April 18.

Other measures will be launched as soon as possible to provide timely relief to the affected sectors and individuals. 

The committee also noted that the fund has paid out over $13 billion, and many businesses and members of the public have gradually received subsidies.

Mr Cheung said the measures aim to preserve employment and assist the self-employed, provide additional relief to those sectors hard hit by the pandemic and pave the way for the post-pandemic economic recovery. 

“We will continue to process applications and disburse subsidies as soon as possible to help businesses and members of the public tackle the challenges caused by the pandemic and to support enterprises, safeguard jobs and relieve people’s burden," he stressed. 

For the Retail Sector Subsidy Scheme which provides a one-off subsidy of $80,000 to eligible retailers, about 93,000 applications were received.

The committee was pleased to note that the scheme has been disbursing subsidies progressively and over $2.7 billion in subsidies have been approved so far, involving about 33,000 applications.