The Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank announced on Tuesday its board of directors has approved a sovereign-backed loan of 2.485 billion yuan ($351 million) as an adaptive way of upgrading China's sustainable public health infrastructure and providing emergency equipment and supplies.

The project, to be supported by AIIB's first emergency assistance loan, aims to strengthen the public health emergency response capacity in Beijing, the capital of China, and Chongqing, the regional center of western China.

The outbreak of COVID-19 triggered China's urgent financial need for support in strengthening its capacity in epidemic prevention and control. Cities with large floating populations have particularly acute financial needs to address such challenges, according to AIIB.

The loan will support the sustainable development of public health infrastructure, systems and emergency response in the two cities. It will help upgrade their respective centers for disease control and prevention, enhance the treatment capacity of medical institutions in dealing with epidemic emergencies, and provide emergency equipment and supplies to front-line public health workers to help contain the outbreak of COVID-19.

"AIIB's response underscores the importance of building resilient public health infrastructure and maintaining robust systems for members to effectively mitigate risks to their populations associated with outbreaks of communicable disease," said AIIB Vice-President Konstantin Limitovskiy.

"The emergency loan demonstrates AIIB's agility in responding positively and effectively to its members' needs during crises," he said.