The food ration team spearheaded by the Economy Ministry is currently distributing an estimated 3,000 food packs to families in the Suva-Nausori corridor.

Ministry of Economy, Coordinator Kamal Gounder says they started distributing the packs from 8 am targeting families who sent their details to *161# but did not receive the pack during the four-day lockdown.

He adds they are trying to meet the demand as they strive to distribute the allocated food packs by this evening.

Gounder says they’ve noted that a good number of Fijians also needed this assistance while distributing the ration in the greater Suva area today.

“When our teams are on the ground what we are also seeing and our team leaders have been advising us is that other people are requesting for ration. But at the moment we are trying to fill up the list that requested through *161#, so we trying to deliver to those people today and meet the request that came in earlier.”

Gounder highlighted should they not fully distribute the packs today, they will have a briefing this evening to decide whether to continue with the distribution tomorrow.

He earlier confirmed that close to 20,000 requests were received last week through the food ration helpline.