China had allocated a total of 108.75 billion yuan (15.6 billion U.S. dollars) in special funds by March 2 for the prevention and control work of the novel coronavirus, said the Ministry of Finance on Tuesday.

The funding was part of the country's comprehensive supporting measures to combat the COVID-19 that killed 2,984 people as of Wednesday and stalled industrial production after an extended Lunar New Year.

The ministry gives priority to patient medical expenses and the supply of key prevention and control materials in order to ensure that patients' treatment will not be delayed due to cost issues, and the epidemic prevention not be affected by funding issues, said Fu Jinling, an official with the Ministry of Finance.

Fu said that at present, medical expenses were guaranteed as supporting policies have been implemented a month ago.

China had provided enterprises with 1 trillion yuan (143 billion U.S. dollars) in social insurance payments relief this year to support the resumption of production, said Fu.

Fu also mentioned that the total tax burden on enterprises will be cut by 510 billion yuan (73.07 billion U.S. dollars) in 2020, and the country is also allowing firms in the virus-stricken province of Hubei to waive insurance payments for five months.

Three series of tax and fee reduction policies have been unveiled since the outbreak of the epidemic to help prevent and control the epidemic and resume work and production. The taxation authority has made operational guidelines for the implementation of preferential tax policies, said Wang Daoshu, an official with State Taxation Administration.

The tax authority has extended the tax return period for February twice. It will continue to extend the period for March by one week to March 23, said Wang. 

Meanwhile, China is encouraging the production of key medical protective materials, such as N95 masks and protective clothing. The government will purchase and store spare medical protective suits, lifting the worries of enterprises.