China's Finance Ministry Allocates $145Mln To Hubei Province To Fight Coronavirus

China's Finance Ministry Allocates $145Mln to Hubei Province to Fight Coronavirus

The Chinese Finance Ministry said on Thursday it was allocating 1 billion yuan ($145 million) to the province of Hubei for fighting the new coronavirus

BEIJING (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 23rd January, 2020) The Chinese Finance Ministry said on Thursday it was allocating 1 billion Yuan ($145 million) to the province of Hubei for fighting the new coronavirus.

"An outbreak of pneumonia, stemming from the new type of coronavirus, has recently been registered in the city of Wuhan and other locations in Hubei province ... The situation remains tough, regarding prevention and disease spread control," the Finance Ministry said in a statement.

The ministry added it was allocating 1 billion yuan to assist prevention and disease spread control, following the direction by President Xi Jinping.

The unknown type of viral pneumonia was first reported in Wuhan in early January and has since been confirmed by China and the World Health Organization to be a new strain of coronavirus, currently being labeled as 2019-nCoV or Novel Coronavirus. The virus has also been detected in the United States, Japan, South Korea and Thailand. At least 17 people have died and over 600 have been infected so far.