BEIJING — The Ministry of Finance (MOF) on Jan 27 allocated 4.4 billion yuan (about $640 million) to support the battle across the country against the novel coronavirus (2019-nCoV).

It included an additional 500-million-yuan fund for Central China's Hubei province, which was hit hard by the novel coronavirus outbreak, the ministry said Jan 28 on its website.

The MOF allocated 1 billion yuan to Hubei on Jan 23 to support the coronavirus prevention and control work in the province.