The overall Comprehensive Social Security Assistance caseload dropped by 1,384 cases to 299,544 in April, down 0.6% from March, the Social Welfare Department announced today.

The total number of recipients was 299,544.

Low-earnings cases registered a month-to-month decrease of 2.8% to 2,122, while old age cases dropped by 0.8% to 122,436. Single parent cases declined 0.4% to 23,567. Ill-health cases dipped 0.3% to 26,924 cases, while the number of permanent disability cases slumped 0.2% to 17,430.

Unemployment cases decreased by 0.4% to 18,796 on a month-to-month basis, representing a rise of about 49.3% compared with January 2020 when Hong Kong just started to fight against the COVID-19 pandemic.

The average number of applications for unemployment cases between February and April was 532 per month, down 0.4% from the January to March figure.