Coronavirus: around 36,000 benefit payouts for work absences  

The government on Thursday made some 36,500 payouts to those eligible for various benefits for absence from work due to the coronavirus-related restrictions.

The beneficiaries receiving the relief were parents forced to stay home to care for their children while schools were shut, beneficiaries of the special sick leave, and beneficiaries of the special self-employed allowance.

The payouts relate to the period April 13 to May 12.

In a statement, the ministry of labour said that over the coming days it will also be paying out special unemployment benefits to company employees who were placed on partial or full furlough during the same period.

The Cyprus Mail is the only English-language daily newspaper published in Cyprus. It was established in 1945 and today, with its popular and widely-read website, the Cyprus Mail is among the most trusted news sites in Cyprus. The newspaper is not affiliated with any political parties and has always striven to maintain its independence. Over the past 70-plus years, the Cyprus Mail, with a small dedicated team, has covered momentous events in Cyprus’ modern history, chronicling the last gasps of British colonial rule, Cyprus’ truncated independence, the coup and Turkish invasion, and the decades of negotiations to stitch the divided island back together, plus a myriad of scandals, murders, and human interests stories that capture the island and its -people. Observers describe it as politically conservative.