A Government spokesman said today (June 25) that the Employment Support Scheme (ESS) received a total of 259 860 applications for the one-off lump-sum subsidy of $7,500 for self-employed persons (SEPs) during the application period. Of these, about 140 000 applications have not been approved due to ineligibility. The ESS Secretariat or the processing agent are sending notifications to these applicants.
     
     Under the ESS, the applicant must have enrolled himself or herself in a Mandatory Provident Fund (MPF) Scheme as an SEP and the relevant SEP MPF account should have been set up on or before March 31, 2020 (i.e. it cannot be backdated to that date or any earlier date) and had not been terminated as of March 31, 2020. According to the information provided by the Mandatory Provident Fund Schemes Authority, there are about 215 000 SEPs who are eligible for the one-off lump-sum subsidy.
     
     "Applications for one-off lump-sum subsidy are denied mostly because they were based on an employee MPF account or a personal account created after termination of previous self-employment instead of a dedicated SEP MPF account, or the relevant SEP MPF accounts had already been terminated as of March 31, 2020.  Should there be any enquiries about the application results, applicants may send email to subsidy@employmentsupport.hk within 14 days from the date of receipt of the notification from the ESS secretariat or the processing agent. " the spokesman said.

     The ESS Secretariat has completed processing about 74 000 applications for one-off lump-sum subsidy and notified successful SEP applicants. The total sum involved is about 560 million. We are expeditiously processing some 40 000 remaining applications.
     

Attention duty announcers, radio and TV stations:

Please broadcast the following message as soon as possible and repeat it at suitable intervals:

     At about 2pm today (June 25), some protestors unlawfully gathered at YOHO Mall in Yuen Long, causing nuisance to shoppers and resulting in closure of shops. Police therefore entered the mall to take enforcement actions.

     Police are now conducting dispersal and arrest action therein. Police warn the protestors inside the mall to stop all illegal acts. Police will continue to take resolute enforcement action.

     The Commerce and Economic Development Bureau announced today (June 25) that the Government will begin to deliver masks free-of-charge to all residential addresses in Hong Kong through Hongkong Post starting next Tuesday (June 30). Each household will receive a pack of ten disposable adult masks. The masks that will be distributed are the first batch procured by the Government under the Local Mask Production Subsidy Scheme. The Government wishes to share these masks with the public and fight the virus together.
 
     At present, Hongkong Post's delivery service covers approximately 2.88 million residential addresses in Hong Kong. Hongkong Post will begin to deliver masks to these addresses from June 30 onwards. To make the delivery process simple for the public, there is no need for any pre-registration.
 
     The postman will directly insert a pack of ten masks (measuring 230 millimetres by 135 millimetres) into an adequately-sized residential letter box. If the pack cannot be inserted into the letter box, the postman will attempt door delivery. If no one is at home, the postman will leave a notification card. With the notification card, the pack of masks can be collected at the designated post office within 28 working days. Details of the delivery process are set out in Hongkong Post's short clip (https://youtu.be/p1e0jkbQkcU).
 
     As for the small number of residential households not currently covered by Hongkong Post's delivery service, alternative delivery arrangements will be made, which include assistance provided by the Social Welfare Department and the District Offices.
 
     Hongkong Post will suitably arrange for additional manpower for the distribution exercise, which will take approximately three weeks to complete. As such, the public will receive their masks at different times.
 
     For enquiries about the mask distribution exercise, please call the dedicated hotline 183 6136 or email to enquiry@maskdistribution.hk starting from 9am tomorrow (June 26).
 
     The Government launched the Local Mask Production Subsidy Scheme under the Anti-epidemic Fund to provide financial assistance to 20 local mask production lines. The Government estimates that when all the 20 subsidised lines are in full production, every month they will collectively supply about 34 million masks to the Government and about 7.6 million masks to the local market.

    

     The Social Welfare Department (SWD) announced today (June 25) that an increase in the maximum rent allowance (MRA) under the Comprehensive Social Security Assistance (CSSA) Scheme and an upward adjustment of the income limits for Old Age Living Allowance (OALA) (including OALA under the Guangdong (GD) Scheme and Fujian (FJ) Scheme) under the Social Security Allowance (SSA) Scheme will take effect from July 1, 2020.
      
     A SWD spokesman said that "The Chief Executive's 2019 Policy Address" announced a series of measures to improve the CSSA including the measure to increase the MRA significantly on a one-off basis. The Legislative Council Finance Committee approved the relevant proposals on May 29, 2020. Meanwhile, the income limits for OALA (including OALA under the GD Scheme and FJ Scheme) under the SSA Scheme will be revised correspondingly from July 1. The adjusted MRA under CSSA and income limits for OALA are at Annex.

     CSSA and SSA applicants and recipients may call the SWD hotline at 2343 2255, or contact their respective social security field units for enquiries, or visit the SWD's website (www.swd.gov.hk).

The following is issued on behalf of the Hospital Authority:

     The spokesman for the Princess Margaret Hospital (PMH) today (June 25) announced that a 55-year-old male COVID-19 confirmed case (case no. 1180) passed away early this morning.

     The patient suffered from stroke in Philippines and was admitted to the local hospital at the end of May. He was escorted back to Hong Kong by air ambulance and was admitted to PMH on June 23. He ran a high fever on admission and was in serious condition.  He was subsequently tested positive for COVID-19. His condition later deteriorated and developed severe sepsis. The patient further ran a downhill course and eventually succumbed at 1.30am today.

     The hospital was saddened about the passing away of the patient and would offer necessary assistance to his family members. The case has been referred to the Coroner for follow up.
      
     Including the above case, seven COVID-19 patients have passed away in public hospitals so far.