No cases of infectious epidemic or mass food poisoning were reported in China's snow-stricken areas by February 14, the Ministry of Health said on its official website.

It said 25,115 medical teams with more than 182,900 staff had been dispatched to treat 402,200 ill and injured persons in disaster areas by Thursday.

The medical teams mainly focused on treating respiratory diseases, fractures and frostbite. No epidemics or mass food poisoning induced by the prolonged snow were reported.

Authorities delivered close to 10 million brochures advising the public on disease prevention and the impact of the bad weather. Over 1.99 million cotton-padded coats and quilts were sent to disaster-hit areas.

So far, the death toll caused by infectious diseases in the snow-stricken areas showed no year-on-year increase in the past month, the ministry said.

The prolonged low temperatures, icy rain and heavy snow in the southern part of China have claimed 107 lives in the past month and caused direct economic loss of an estimated 111.1 billion yuan (about US$15.3 billion).

By Wednesday, the Civil Affairs and Finance ministries had allocated a total of 535 million yuan (US$73.79 million) in emergency funding to 19 provincial-level regions affected by the disaster.

The ministries also earmarked another 710 million yuan for needy urban and rural residents in seven of the worst-hit provinces and regions as temporary subsidies.

(Xinhua News Agency February 16, 2008)