Just under 77,000 workers have applied for the COVID-19 supplement introduced by the government, Minister for Economy Silvio Schembri has revealed.

So far, a total of 16,970 have been received, which translates to 76,976 employees.

However, the number of people who have been made redundant was not revealed with Malta Enterprise CEO Kurt Farrugia saying they were not aware of these figures.

After the government introduced sweeping closures to combat the spread of COVID-19 in Malta, two wage supplements were introduced, either an €800 monthly benefit or a roughly €160 monthly benefit.

When it comes to the first batch, there have been 4,026 applications for companies negatively affected by the measures. Around 12,161 applications were from self-employed persons.

The numbers will increase in the coming days and weeks.

Most applications came from the tourism sector, accounting for roughly half of all applications.

With regards to the teleworking scheme, 298 applications were received, with around €81,000 being dished out. When it comes to quarantine leave, 1298 applications were received with €49,350  paid out.