KUALA LUMPUR, Jan 20 — Selangor will provide a special allocation to each assemblyman and MP in the state to allow them to provide basic supplies to residents amid the Covid-19 pandemic.

Mentri Besar Datuk Seri Amirudin Shari announced that under its People-Friendly Special Allocation, each of the 56 assemblymen will receive RM100,000, while each MP will receive RM50,000.

"With this announcement, people-friendly programmes or activities involving the procurement of basic supplies such as rice, cooking oil, flour, canned food and others can be implemented directly,” he said in a special press conference broadcast live online today.

The allocation is part of Kita Selangor Package which outlined multiple special initiatives to help Selangor voters, and stimulate the economy of the richest state in Malaysia.

Amirudin said Selangor is expected to spend RM 73.87 million for the initiatives.

Last October, Selangor announced its biggest ever budget of RM2.32 billion in order to combat the pandemic.

Amirudin also said that Selangor will provide free nursery and temporary childcare services for frontliners in the state for the first two months starting January 25, costing RM1 million and set to benefit almost 400 families

"Parents who work as hospital staff or health offices in Selangor, police and military personnel involved in efforts to deal with Covid-19 can send their children to this nursery,” he said.

Amirudin, who became MB in 2018, also said the government will allocate Smart Selangor buses to help send low-risk Covid-19 patients to the Malaysia Agro Exposition Park Serdang (MAEPS) in Serdang for quarantine.

He added that RM3 million will be allocated to continue food aid to 9,822 health workers and 3,500 military personnel currently working around the clock during the MCO in the state.

For the public, Amirudin also announced that the state's targeted screening initiative will be continued with an RM6 million additional allocation, with the goal to allow 50,000 more of its citizens to get free swab tests.

"This program will focus on target groups such as high-risk senior citizens, especially the elderly at the Elderly Care Centre and Hemodialysis Centre throughout Selangor, the B40 group and Selangor students.

"Details on this matter will be informed from time to time,” he said.

Yesterday, Selangor recorded 1,199 new Covid-19 cases, continuing its trend of the state with most cases.