MANAMA -- Bahrainis have launched an online campaign to assist foreign residents who have lost their jobs due to the outbreak of the new coronavirus.

The effort has generated response from inside Bahrain as well as from the UAE, Saudi Arabia and Kuwait, organizers said.

“I received a plea for help from a Filipino worker who stopped working and no longer received a salary. This prompted me to launch this campaign on my Twitter account,” Mosaib Al Sheikh, a Bahraini national, said.

“Thanks to joint efforts, contributions have been collected and prepared by male and female volunteers,” he was quoted by Bahraini newspaper Al Bilad.

The volunteers have distributed more than 2,000 food parcels, including rice, sugar and snacks to laborers across Bahrain, he said.

The Bahraini government has recently a $11 billion stimulus package to aid the private sector in grappling with the fallout from the COVID-19. -- Agencies