The country’s finance ministry announced it would set aside the eye-watering sum – which is 71.85billion yuan – to ensure the virus that spawned from Wuhan is not hampered by financial restraints. The cash will go towards helping better treatment and faster diagnosis, the Daily Telegraph reports. China’s ambassador to Britain maintained the coronavirus “is controllable, is preventable, is curable” in an interview with the BBC.
He also called the disease “the enemy of mankind”.
Liu Xiaoming said: “At this moment it is very difficult to predict when we are going to have an inflection point.
“We certainly hope it will come soon, but the isolation and quarantine measures have been very effective.”
China’s workforce has been today instructed to return to work in “batches” in another attempt to contain the sheer volume of people with the virus.
The nation has been told to work from home if they can as Beijng’s economy has taken a significant hit during the unprecedented shut downs of the last few weeks.
Yesterday, China’s National Health Commission called for the “reasonable use” of protective suits in a statement that echoed advice from the World Health Organisation (WHO) last week.
WHO director general Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus warned against the “widespread inappropriate use” of equipment such as face masks on Friday, which have been largely sold out across the globe as coronavirus fears spike.
He added: “The first priority is health workers, the second priority is those who are sick or caring for someone who is sick.”
It comes as the death toll is reported to be at least 910.
This number has now exceeded the 774 fatalities reported during the Sars outbreak in 2002-2003.
READ NOW: Coronavirus LIVE: Medical centre in emergency SHUT DOWN [NEWS]
The County Oak Medical Centre in the Hollingbury area of Brighton has been closed by the NHS.
A sign on the window reads: “Closed due to operational difficulties”.
The practice is located in Carden Hill, about three-and-a-half miles north of Brighton city centre.
Patients at the centre have been told to contact the NHS 111 phone service is they are concerned they could be displaying symptoms.
A message left on the medical centre’s answering machine says: “Unfortunately, the building has had to close due to an urgent operational health and safety reason.”