Around 118,000 households have been assisted with a payout of over $10.6 million through the $90 cash assistance program.

This includes around 37,000 households in the Nadi Lautoka containment area and 81,000 households in the Lami, Suva, Nasinu, Nausori containment area

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

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

Acting Permanent Secretary for Economy Shiri Gounder says apart from this, Government has also worked together with the Fiji National Provident Fund to bring forward the phase 2 unemployment assistance payments for 37,000 recipients.

The payment was scheduled to be due next week but this has been paid last night .

Gounder says members can access these funds today.