Around 70,000 households have been assisted with a payout of $6.3 million through the $90 cash assistance program.

This includes around 37,000 households in the Nadi and Lautoka containment areas and around 33,000 households in Lami, Suva, Nasinu and Nausori.

Applications for the Lami, Suva, Nasinu and Nausori containment areas will end at 5 pm today.

There were long queues yesterday around Vodafone outlets in Suva with people already receiving government assistance.

The Ministry for Economy started receiving applications from people in Lami, Suva, Nasinu, and Nausori containment areas from Sunday.