Fan Yifei, deputy governor of the People’s Bank of China, revealed at a press conference on Saturday that China is now quarantining old bank notes in order to contain the spread of the coronavirus.
Yifei says money in worst-hit areas will be sanitized with heat and ultraviolet rays, and quarantined for two weeks before being distributed again. Money in less risky areas will also be locked up, but only for a week. He adds that commercial lenders were also asked to quarantine cash from hospitals and food markets.
Data from the Johns Hopkins real-time tracker shows that as of Sunday, global cases of the coronavirus have reached 69,183, including 1,669 deaths with 9,521 recoveries.
As part of the measures to reduce further spread of the virus, China’s central bank is funneling 600 billion yuan ($85.9 billion) in new cash for Hubei, the center of the epidemic, with the provincial capital, Wuhan, receiving 4 billion yuan ($572 million) new banknotes.
The United States now has 15 quarantine sites located at military bases across the country as it prepares for a surge in coronavirus cases.
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