BEIJING — Chinese charities and Red Cross societies had received donations of around 29.29 billion yuan (about $4.23 billion) and 522 million items of supplies for the fight against the novel coronavirus by the end of March 8, a senior official said March 8.

Among the donations, 23.98 billion yuan and 466 million items of supplies have been delivered to recipients thanks to the efforts of these charitable organizations, Zhan Chengfu, vice-minister of civil affairs, told reporters at a press conference in Beijing.

"We will draw experience from charity work in this epidemic and improve governance capacity for charity work in response to major public health emergencies and natural disasters," Zhan said.