“We call this the ultimate version [of the ESS], because we can say that we have concretely accepted all the comments and proposed improvements,” Lam said.

“We have summarised the main opinions received into six major aspects, so this improved version will propose optimised measures for those opinions.”

Lam said the changes would increase the number of workers covered under the scheme from 1.3 million to 1.74 million, hence the jump in cost from HK$31 billion to HK$43 billion.

The major changes to the scheme included expanding eligibility by removing a salary cap on workers covered, allowing employers to base their applications on more up-to-date staff rosters, and limiting coverage to a maximum of 1,000 employees to better target small and medium-sized enterprises.

Authorities will also extend limited eligibility to some previously uncovered companies, pay up to half of the monthly salary of temporary or part-time employees, and cover self-employed people and workers aged 65 and above who have accounts under the city’s compulsory pension fund.

But some firms previously deemed ineligible for the scheme because they were not hit hard by the fifth wave, such as supermarket and convenience stores, pharmacies and private hospitals, can only apply for up to 100 employees.

The latest ESS will offer employers up to HK$8,000 a month per eligible worker for three months – less than the maximum of HK$9,000 a month for half a year under the previous round of the scheme.

Lam said authorities had “learned from” problems with the previous round of subsidies that led to some of the money going into employers’ pockets, rather than to the workers it was designed to help. The payments “will definitely go to the employees this time”, she added.

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Another measure aimed at supporting those rendered jobless by the pandemic, the Temporary Unemployment Relief Scheme, will provide workers with a one-off HK$10,000 payment.

Lam had previously said the scheme would be distributed to as many eligible recipients as possible, even if the number of applicants exceeded officials’ original estimate of 300,000.

Doris Ho Pui-ling, head of the government’s Policy Innovation and Coordination Office, revealed on Thursday that more than 360,000 applications had been received as of the day before.

She said 70 per cent of applicants fell into the category for those unemployed for more than 30 days, while the other 30 per cent fell into the one reserved for staff placed on more than 30 days of unpaid leave from their jobs at businesses forced to shut under Covid-19 restrictions, such as gyms and beauty parlours.

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The first batch of about 60,000 eligible recipients will receive an SMS or email notification on Friday. The subsidy will be distributed as soon as Tuesday.

Ho said 30 per cent of applicants had been deemed ineligible for the scheme, mostly because their incomes were either too high or too low to qualify.

Applications for the unemployment relief payments opened on March 23 and will run until April 12, with the government originally setting aside HK$3 billion for the scheme.

To receive the funds, applicants must provide proof of employment in Hong Kong for at least one month between October 1 and December 31 last year, and a previous total monthly income of between HK$2,700 and HK$30,000.

Responding to complaints from unions that workers had been denied paid sick days after catching the virus, Secretary for Labour and Welfare Law Chi-kwong reminded employers on Thursday that they were legally obliged to give staff statutory sick leave for quarantine. “Otherwise, they could be subject to prosecution,” he said.

Lawmaker Dennis Leung Tsz-wing, of the Federation of Trade Unions, had said earlier in the day that his group had received 340 such complaints from infected employees, adding that most had not received official isolation orders as the government’s platform for reporting rapid antigen test results could not automatically issue them at first.

“But a few employers still refused to recognise isolation orders as proof for sick leave, and even asked the employees to take annual leave instead,” Leung said on a radio show.

The Legislative Council’s bills committee is set to convene on Thursday afternoon to discuss amendments to the Employment Ordinance to clarify issues brought on by the Covid-19 pandemic, including for sick leave, along with the implementation of other anti-epidemic measures, such as vaccination.

While Small and Medium Enterprises Association honorary chairman Danny Lau Tat-pong supported the upgraded scheme, he said he believed authorities should also include those aged 65 and above without an MPF account.

Lau added that supermarkets and dispensary shops should be excluded from the programme, arguing such businesses had gained from the pandemic as residents stockpiled essentials and protective gear.

“They have more business during the pandemic in a positive way, so there shouldn’t be subsidies for them. This enhancement is not justifiable,” he said.

Hong Kong’s unemployment rate for the three months ending in February rose to 4.5 per cent, according to provisional figures released by the Census and Statistics Department on March 17.

The jobless rate was the highest it had been since the period from July to September last year, when unemployment also hit 4.5 per cent.

Additional reporting by Rachel Yeo