The U.K. retailer, Primark owned by Associated British Foods Plc, said it would cover the wage component of clothing orders that were scheduled for shipment within 30 days after it called off all deliveries. The fund will support workers in Bangladesh, Cambodia, India, Myanmar, Sri Lanka and Vietnam.
Primark has closed all its shops across the U.K., Europe and the U.S. following the outbreak of the virus, costing it 650 million pounds ($796 million) of lost revenue a month. After the store closures, it asked all of its suppliers to stop production.
The retailer has already paid for 1.6 billion pounds of stock that was in stores, in depots, or in transit before it took the decision to scrap further orders.
Payments to workers will be adjusted to reflect any government support packages provided in each of the countries.