BEIJING — China has been helping individuals stranded by the coronavirus outbreak and other disadvantaged groups get through difficulties with measures including funding their board and lodging and granting them temporary allowances, a senior official said on March 14.

"By the end of March 13, Wuhan had set up 69 temporary shelters and accommodated 4,843 nonresident individuals stranded in the epicenter of the outbreak," Liu Xitang, an official with the Ministry of Civil Affairs, told a press conference in Beijing.

A total of 5,839 stranded people in the city had received temporary basic allowances for subsistence, the total amount of which reached 16.10 million yuan (around $2.30 million), he added.

The country also offered temporary subsidies to disadvantaged groups, Liu said, noting preliminary statistics showed that 1.69 billion yuan were delivered during the first two months in 2020 and some 31 million individuals benefited from the policy.

Just in January, a total of 190 million yuan were granted to residents in virus-hit Hubei province, helping about 1.89 million people facing difficulties in their lives, he said.

Eligible households suffering substantial income shrink due to the epidemic that keeps them from returning to their jobs will draw support from the social security system for low-income families, Liu said.

Based on the prevailing low-income line, urban households with their monthly income below 624 yuan and rural families with the annual income below 5,336 yuan are eligible for stipends provided by the social security system, according to Liu.