The overall Comprehensive Social Security Assistance caseload rose slightly by four cases to 216,446 in February, remaining more or less the same as that of January, the Social Welfare Department announced today.

The total number of recipients was 303,442.

Low-earnings cases decreased 0.5% to 2,205. Permanent disability cases were down by 0.2% to 17,471 cases. Both old age cases and single parent cases dipped slightly by 0.1% to 123,593 cases and 23,660 cases.

Unemployment cases increased 0.5% to 18,550 compared with last month, representing a rise of about 47.4% compared with January 2020 when Hong Kong just started to fight the COVID-19 pandemic.

The average number of applications for unemployment cases in December 2021 to February 2022 was 443 per month, representing a decrease of 7.5% from the November 2021 to January 2022 figure.

Ill-health cases remained steady at 26,972.