Families of those who die due to long-Covid-19 may be given financial aid, says Abdul Latiff

KUALA LUMPUR: Families of those who die due to the effects of long-Covid-19 may be given financial aid, says Datuk Dr Abdul Latiff Ahmad.

"The National Disaster Management Agency (Nadma) has no objections to consider such aid for those who pass away due to the effects of long-Covid-19 as long as the stipulated conditions are fulfilled," the Minister in the Prime Minister's Department said in a written reply in Dewan Rakyat on Tuesday (March 8).

He was replying to a question raised by Datuk Amiruddin Hamzah (Pejuang-Kubang Pasu) who wanted to know how many families had benefited from the RM5,000 special funeral aid provided to families of Covid-19 victims.

Amiruddin also wanted to know if this financial aid would be extended to families of those who died due to the effects of long-Covid-19.

Abdul Latiff said that as of Feb 28, Nadma had approved 17,867 eligible applications involving a total of RM89.33mil.

He said that conditions must be met before application for the RM5,000 is approved.

He noted that the aid was not automatically given as the affected families must apply for it.

"The families must also appoint or choose who the beneficiary of the aid will be," he said, adding this agreement must first be obtained from the affected families to avoid any issues arising later involving the government.

He said the payments to the next-of-kin are made through Electronic Fund Transfer (EFT) and transferred directly into the accounts of named beneficiaries.

The main criteria for those applying for the aid, he said, was that families must provide the death certificate of the individual where it is clearly written that "Covid-19" was the cause of death.