Social workers involved in fight against COVID-19 to receive allowances

By Azernews

By Akbar Mammadov

Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev has signed a decree to strengthen the social protection of social workers involved in the provision of services during the quarantine regime over COVID-19.

According to the order signed on April 14, employees of the city and regional branches of the State Social Protection Fund (SSPF) under the Ministry of Labor and Social Protection of the population involved in the provision of social services will receive a temporary salary supplement equal to their official salary.

The purpose of the order is to provide effective services to citizens in difficult situations and single people over 65 years old.

The Cabinet of Ministers of Azerbaijan has been instructed to determine the employees to whom the allowances will be applied, as well as the deadlines for the payment of allowances.

It should be noted that 1,197 infected people have been detected in Azerbaijan; 351 of them recovered, 13 people died, and 833 people are being treated in special hospitals.

Azerbaijan is building six modular hospitals to treat the COVID-19 patients and a new clinic to fight the disease was inaugurated recently. 

Since March 24, a special quarantine regime has been operating in Azerbaijan. Under this regime, citizens over 65 are not allowed to leave their homes and apartments. In addition, the movement of residents was restricted as of April 5 until April 20.

On March 19, President Aliyev announced the creation of the Fund to Support Fight Against Coronavirus.

Initially, the government allocated $11.7 million to the fund and the president and the first lady donated their annual salaries to the fund. As of April 8, the fund had collected about $65.1 million. Donations have been made by 2,692 legal entities and 8,223 individuals.

Earlier, on March 3, President Ilham Aliyev announced the allocation of $5.8m for fight against the spread of coronavirus in the country.