Government has announced that people can only apply for food rationing after midday on Sunday.

This is for those in the Suva and Nausori lockdown areas and Fijians are being reminded not to text before this as their requests will not be registered.

The Ministry of Economy says it has taken several actions designed to prepare people living in Suva and Nausori for the lockdown period from tonight 11 to Wednesday 4am.

The dedicated line for requesting food rationing has been tested with Vodafone and Digicel and is functioning well.

People needing food assistance can request food rations by dialing *161#.

Applicants must provide their name and other details including street address. It is imperative that we have information that will allow us to locate you quickly.

The government says civil service salaries were paid out one day earlier, on Wednesday, to allow 35,000 workers to begin their preparations, including assisting families and friends.

Over the past week, the Economy Ministry has provided $90 in assistance to around 118,000 individual households.

This includes some 37,000 recipients in Nadi-Lautoka and 81,000 recipients in the Lami-Suva-Nasinu-Nausori area.

FNPF has also issued early payments for 37,000 Fijians receiving $220 per fortnight under Phase 2.

This includes 31,000 Fijians who receive a top-up from Government.

This payment was due on Tuesday of next week, but Government had paid FNPF early so Fijians could access those funds now.

This week, FNPF also paid around 12,000 Fijians on reduced hours under Phase 3.

Out of this, around 7,500 were supported directly by the Fijian Government.

These Fijians are receiving pro-rata payments based on the number of days they are not working.