Pires said the subsidy was necessary to ensure people could remain at home and not go outside to top-up telecommunication credit.

He said the Ministry of Works was in discussion with the nation’s telecommunication providers on how to distribute the credit.

A state of emergency is in force between 00:00 hours on March 28, 2020 and 23:59 hours on April 26, 2020 and applies to the entire country.