Under President Joe Biden’s $1.9 trillion American Rescue Plan, nearly two million more coronavirus stimulus checks have been sent out to those most affected by the ongoing pandemic.

And to date, which includes this current fifth batch of payments of 1.2 million direct deposit payments and nearly eight hundred thousand paper checks, about a hundred fifty-nine million checks worth a total of $376 billion have been disbursed in total.

There is indeed more great news for Americans who are still struggling financially, as the most recent batches included more than seven hundred thousand “plus-up” or supplemental payments for those who only received partial $1,400 checks on an earlier date.

“This batch includes the first of ongoing supplemental payments for people who earlier in March received payments based on their 2019 tax returns but are eligible for a new or larger payment based on their recently processed 2020 tax returns,” the Internal Revenue Service said in a statement.

It added: “These ‘plus-up’ payments could include a situation where a person’s income dropped in 2020 compared to 2019, or a person had a new child or dependent on their 2020 tax return, and other situations.”

Stimulus payments were also issued to individuals who recently filed their 2020 tax returns in order to qualify for the money, due to the fact that the IRS did not have their necessary information on record.

Moreover, the agency has estimated that it will ultimately disburse more than $1.2 billion in “plus-up” payments.

Many of these extra payments should already have landed in bank accounts, but if not, the agency has assured the public that these checks will continue to go out on a weekly basis going forward as it continues to process tax returns from 2020 and 2019.

Furthermore, be aware that since the tax deadline now has been extended to May 17, these “plus-up” payments could stretch on for months. Or possibly, they could already have been sent off as a mailpiece waiting to be delivered by the USPS.

As for the regular $1,400 checks, the newest figures put out by the IRS represent 84 percent of the $450 billion total earmarked for stimulus funds, the agency noted.

This means that only 16 percent of the stimulus checks have yet to be sent out. At this rate, it appears that most, if not all, of these funds should be disbursed within a few weeks.

“The IRS continues to send the third round of stimulus payments in record time,” IRS Commissioner Chuck Rettig said in a statement.

According to the details of the American Rescue Plan, those who earn as much as $75,000 in adjusted gross income (AGI), or couples making $150,000, qualify for the full $1,400 per individual.

Ethen Kim Lieser is a Minneapolis-based Science and Tech Editor who has held posts at Google, The Korea Herald, Lincoln Journal Star, AsianWeek, and Arirang TV. Follow or contact him on LinkedIn.