Donations to aid the fight against severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) in China are growing about 66.25 million yuan (about 7.98 million US dollars) each day,to a total 1.45 billion yuan (about 174.7 million US dollars) as of 15:00 Monday.
Of the total, some 882 million yuan (about 106.3 million US dollars) were cash donations, while the remaining 568 million yuan(about 68.4 million US dollars) consisted of donated relief materials.
According to the figures released Monday by the Ministry of Civil Affairs (MCA), the donations have mainly been channeled through various levels of the MCA, the Ministry of Health, the Chinese Red Cross Society and the Chinese Charity Federation who are officially designated as the recipients of the anti-SARS donations.
Most of the donations have been sent to hospitals responsible for SARS prevention and treatment such as the Beijing XiaotangshanHospital, Sino-Japanese Friendship Hospital and regions plagued bySARS, including Beijing, Hebei, Shanxi and Inner Mongolia.
The MCA has established a regular system to keep the public informed of the latest donation figures.
(Xinhua News Agency May 21, 2003)
