The General Department of State Reserves under the Ministry of Finance provided over 136,300 tonnes of rice to help pandemic-hit people from August 16 to October 8.

Illustrative image. (Photo: VNA)

The General Department of State Reserves under the Ministry of Finance provided over 136,300 tonnes of rice to help pandemic-hit people from August 16 to October 8.

Of the rice amount, more than 75,413 tonnes of rice sourced from the national reserve have been transferred to 9 southern provinces and cities to help thousands of people facing difficulties due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Particularly, Ho Chi Minh City received over 71,000 tonnes of free rice.

Meanwhile, 4,117.8 tonnes of rice were handed over to Binh Phuoc, Bac Lieu and Soc Trang provinces while 1,847 tonnes of rice were given to Quang Nam and Quang Ngai provinces

From September 20 to September 22, the State Reserve Department in the North Central Highlands region allocated over 208.8 tonnes of rice to support 3,360 households with 13,925 people in 10 districts of Gia Lai province.

The State Reserve Departments at localities were tasked to work with local authorities to deliver the rice to people in need at the earliest.

According to the General Department of State Reserves, the timely provision of food from the national reserve is one of the important political tasks particularly in the context of social distancing in many localities due to the complicated development of the COVID-19 pandemic./.