A special commission on COVID-19 control in rural regions is racing to equip rural hospitals with oximeters and oxygenators as part of a broader drive to ease the tight supply of anti-epidemic materials in the countryside.

Every village health center will have two finger oximeters and each township hospital will have a oxygenator, said the commission of the State Council's Joint Prevention and Control Mechanism, the country's COVID-19 control task force.

Some 50 percent of the pledged equipment is already in place, the commission added.

Authorities involved in the campaign include the National Health Commission, the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology and the All-China Federation of Industry and Commerce.

Since Jan 5, the departments have worked with partners Alibaba Foundation and Youcheng Social Entrepreneur Foundation to purchase such medical devices and ship them to thinly resourced rural hospitals.

The beneficiaries include 11,532 township hospitals scattered across 832 counties that have only escaped poverty in recent years, and some 25,000 township hospitals in relatively wealthier regions.