China has strengthened the protection of children with no support in emergencies, as 254,000 unsupported children with parents unable to care for them have been included in a special security system, the Ministry of Civil Affairs said on Tuesday.

"Over 250,000 children with no support were given social security for the first time in 2020 in China," said China's Civil Affairs Minister Li Jiheng at a press conference in Beijing.

The revision to the country's Law on the Protection of Minors to take effect on June 1 this year will strengthen guardians' responsibilities of left-behind children and enhance the social protection of minors.

Gao Xiaobing, vice minister of civil affairs, said the national-level juvenile protection coordination mechanism is currently in the making, and the ministry will strengthen training and guidance of the work team over the protection of minors.

Meanwhile, over 12 million people received living allowances and 14 million people received disability benefits last year, Li said.

Over 44 million were included in basic living allowance programs in urban and rural areas at the end of 2020. Subsistence allowances in these areas also saw jumps by the year's end: 8.6 percent for urban residents and 11.7 percent for rural residents.

Li also spoke of the ministry's efforts in the fight against COVID-19. "We mobilized civil affairs work teams from seven provinces in support of Wuhan. And we received over 39 billion yuan in donations and over 1 billion pieces of donated materials," he noted.

During the press conference, he also briefed the ministry's contributions to the country's poverty alleviation efforts. "More than 19 million poor people have been included in the subsistence allowances or special poverty support, with a focus on helping impoverished seniors, minors, the seriously ill and severely disabled," said Li.

China is also developing its elderly care system. The country had over 38,000 elderly care facilities by the end of last year, an increase of over 10 percent from 2019, according to the officials.