The basic facts of the coronavirus pandemic are now well known. It has obliterated the country’s economy, upended jobs all over and left poor Kenyans high and dry.

The Kenya Covid-19 emergency response fund is now set to wire Ksh 400 million from a kitty that is expected to benefit up to 100,000 Kenyans in urban informal settlements weekly.

• Read also: Healthcare workers to receive much needed psycho-social support amid the COVID-19 pandemic

Wage-earners including casual labourers, construction workers, small-scale business owners, hawkers, Laundry ladies – living on the edge of survival, will receive cash transfers of Ksh 1000 weekly per household, over a period of one month.

Telco giant Safaricom has agreed to issue a 48hr temporary hold on the repayment Fuliza loans to enable the disbursement of funds to wage earners who have lost daily income as a result of the Pandemic.

So far, the urban informal settlements mapped for the cash transfer relief are; Kibera, Mukuru Kayaba, Muthurwa, Pangani Slums, Kiambiu, Majengo, Kinyango and Mother Land Section 3.

Others are Kijiji, Gituamba, Huruma, Kiamaiko, Mlango Kubwa and Mathare, pockets of informal settlements found in Langata, Makadara, Westlands, Eastlands and Ngara.