China's fiscal support for epidemic control tops 80 bln yuan

China had allocated 80.55 billion yuan (about 11.53 billion U.S. dollars) of fiscal funds as of Thursday to support the nationwide battle against the novel coronavirus outbreak, according to the Ministry of Finance.

As of Thursday, 41 billion yuan had been spent, Fu Jinling, an official with the ministry, told a press conference Friday.

The ministry has introduced a supervision system to track the fund flow to ensure targeted support for those in need, Fu said.

The central fiscal funds mainly went toward treating patients, purchasing medical supplies, supporting public health services, developing vaccines and building the two makeshift hospitals in Wuhan, the epicenter of the epidemic.

Fu said the ministry would continue to roll out policies to support the epidemic control.