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The Department of Social Development wants companies that manufacture personal protective equipment (PPE) to be among the first to return to work once the Covid-19 blockade ends.
This is contained in a 37-page Powerpoint presentation of the government’s social impact plan for the gradual elimination of the blockade in some strategic social sectors.
The sector plan included in the presentation, which News24 has seen, also aims for old-age pensioners to receive their subsidies before others, and for social subsidies to be implemented on the beneficiaries’ birth dates.
This would mean that if one is born on May 10, the grant will be paid on the 10th of each month.
The reasoning behind wanting corporations making PPE to return as soon as possible is due to the high demand for masks, gloves, and other PPE, as the country responds to the virus outbreak. A shortage would severely compromise the state’s response, the plan outlines.
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Therefore, allowing the opening of these corporations would benefit the country, since there would be a greater availability of EPP to avoid the spread of the virus.
Another reasoning behind the call for pensioners to be paid their benefits sooner is that their security is compromised when they have to collect together with everyone else. Paying subsidies to the elderly earlier would also protect them from contracting the virus and help with physical distancing at the subsidy payment points, the plan explains.
Another corporation that the plan plans to put back into production is the McDonalds fast food store.
“Macdonald [sic] staff will be allowed to prepare food in some stores to address hunger among the poor during the Covid-19 pandemic. This will provide poor communities with the opportunity to access food and nutrition.
“Receiving social benefits on individual birthdays limits congestion and prevents the spread of the virus. Few MacDonald [sic] stores will be opened and little staff will be used to prepare food for the communities.
“Food is … a rare commodity that many communities lack, therefore it will be important to have additional food for the poor and vulnerable.”
In March, the sector launched advance payments for the elderly and disabled for the first time in an effort to stem the spread of the virus.
The sector’s short-term goals (1 to 6 months) include the provision of psychosocial support services, which focus on gender-based violence, to infected and affected families, as well as to people who abuse substances.
It also plans to implement reunification services for infected and quarantined people. And it will provide services to shelters that house the homeless, and ensure screening and testing in facilities such as nursing homes and treatment centers.
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