Aug 26 (Japan Times) - The government said Tuesday 98.6 percent of households in Japan have received the one-off ¥100,000 yen ($940) cash handouts meant to help cushion the economic fallout from the novel coronavirus pandemic that has continued to linger, with Tokyo seeing 182 new daily cases of the virus.
The government has completed handing out the money to approximately 58.26 million households, equivalent to ¥12.55 trillion, or 98.5 percent, of the budget for the project, according to the Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications.
In principle, the head of a household receives the total amount of the cash handouts for family members transferred to his or her bank account.
Residents in Japan were able to apply for the handouts for three months from when the municipalities they live in began accepting applications, with many reaching their deadline by the end of August.
Tokyo has seen new infections in triple digits for almost the entire month, except for Monday. Although the capital has experienced a daily record of 472 on Aug. 1, the number of cases has been on a decline since mid-August.
The Tokyo Metropolitan Government’s single-day figure of 182 new cases, confirmed Tuesday, now brings the cumulative total in the capital to 19,610.
The figure is nearly double the 95 reported the previous day, which was the lowest daily figure since July 8 when 75 infections were reported.
