Argentina announces lump sum for low-income coronavirus workers

BUENOS AIRES, Mar 23 (Reuters) – The Argentine government reported on Monday that it will make a one-time payment of 10,000 pesos ($ 158) in April to low-income and informal freelancers to help them with their expenses during the mandatory quarantine in the country. to slow down the progression of the coronavirus.

The government created an Emergency Family Income that will benefit 3.6 million families who do not receive a public or private salary or receive direct assistance from the State, pensions or employment programs, informed the Minister of Economy, Martín Guzmán, at a conference of press.

“What we are doing is making sure that everyone who lives in Argentina is protected in this crisis situation,” said Guzmán along with the Minister of Labor, Claudio Moroni, who clarified that the benefit is for families who have no other income.

The government will use this sum to alleviate the effects on the pocket of the 12-day quarantine announced by President Alberto Fernández from last Friday and until March 31 to stop the spread of the coronavirus.

Last week, the government announced measures for retirees and beneficiaries of social programs, as well as a plan for productive sectors and help to pay wages.

Fernández also plans to sign a decree that establishes the suspension of cuts in essential services, such as electricity and water, while social and preventive isolation lasts, according to local media reports.

The president met earlier Monday with the governor of the province of Buenos Aires and some 24 mayors of the urban cordon that surrounds the Argentine capital, with whom he analyzed the situation in the most vulnerable areas and coordinated health, food and security policies .

Isolation to halt the spread of the coronavirus will have harsh consequences in Argentina, amid an economic recession with high rates of inflation and poverty.

The total of infected in Argentina is 301, of which four died from coronavirus, according to data from the Ministry of Health, which on Monday announced the first case of a patient with no history of travel or close contact with someone who has been abroad. , a situation known as community transmission.

(Report by Eliana Raszewski and Lucila Sigal)