BEIJING — China has disposed of 123,000 metric tons of medical waste since late January amid the fight against the novel coronavirus disease (COVID-19), said the Ministry of Ecology and Environment (MEE) on March 6.

As of March 3, China's medical waste disposal capacity had reached 5,948.5 tons per day, increasing by 1,045.7 tons each day from before the outbreak.

The disposal capacity of Hubei province, the epicenter of the outbreak, rose to 663.7 tons per day, showed the MEE data.

In addition, environmental authorities monitored the country's 11,474 drinking water sources and did not find any impact from the epidemic on the quality of the sources, the ministry said.