BEIJING, March 3 (Xinhua) -- China's finance ministry said Tuesday that all levels of government have allocated 108.75 billion yuan (15.63 billion U.S. dollars) of funds as of Monday to fight against the novel coronavirus outbreak.
The country has earmarked sufficient funds for medical care, and the funds will be used to ensure that members of the public will not delay treatment because of financial constraints, Fu Jinling, an official at the Ministry of Finance, told a press conference.
The country unveiled policies for the government to subsidize the personal treatment costs incurred by those both with confirmed cases of the virus and suspected infections.
Fu said the government has also made arrangements for government procurement of crucial medical supplies to encourage enterprises to ramp up production and prevent shortages from hampering efforts to contain the outbreak.
By the end of Monday, the overall confirmed cases on the Chinese mainland had reached 80,151, including 30,004 patients who were still being treated, 47,204 patients who had been discharged after recovery, and 2,943 people who had died of the disease.