BEIJING — China has adopted more favorable tax policies to speed up the import of supplies used for the prevention and control of the novel coronavirus.

Preferential tax policies will be valid from Jan 1 to March 31, according to a statement jointly released by the Ministry of Finance (MOF) and other governmental departments.

Donated supplies for the epidemic prevention and control have been exempt from import duties, import value-added tax and consumption tax, according to sources of the MOF.

The scope of the donated supplies has been expanded to include reagents, disinfectant items, protective goods, ambulances, epidemic control vehicles, disinfection vehicles and emergency command vehicles.

Import duty exemption also applies to the purchases of supplies organized by domestic medical and public health departments to be directly used in the epidemic control.

Li Xuhong, a researcher with the Beijing National Accounting Institute, said the tax exemption targeted at the key medical supplies in need would offer support to the ongoing campaign against the novel coronavirus.