A 100 per cent centrally-funded five-year scheme worth Rs15,000 crores to strengthen national and state-level health systems wasapproved on Wednesday as India fights to control the spread of the infectiousCOVID-19 virus, the government has said.

The "COVID-19 Emergency Response and Health SystemPreparedness Package" will be implemented in three phases - from January2020 to June 2020, from July 2020 to March 2021 and from April 2021 to March2024. This fund will be divided among all states and union territories.

Activities to be funded under this scheme include thedevelopment of dedicated COVID-19 hospitals, ICUs (intensive care unit) andsupply of oxygen in medical centres.

"With the objective of emergency COVID-19 response, (afund has been set up for) strengthening national and state health systems tosupport prevention and preparedness, procurement of essential medicalequipment, consumables and drugs and strengthening of surveillance activities,including setting up laboratories and bio-security preparedness," acircular signed by the Director of the National Health Mission said.

Activities listed under the first phase also includedisinfection of hospitals and government ambulances, as well as purchase of PPE(personal protection equipment) and N-95 face masks.

India has reported over 5,700 COVID-19 cases so far,including at least 166 deaths. Maharashtra (1,135 cases, 72 deaths), Tamil Nadu(738 cases, eight deaths) and Delhi (669 cases, nine deaths) are the areasworst-hit, so far. As of Monday cases have been reported from 284 districtsacross 28 states and union territories.

The scale of the outbreak, and the speed with which it hasspread over the past few weeks, has left several states scrambling for funds tofight the virus.

The three-week "total lockdown" imposed by PrimeMinister Narendra Modi last month - this includes shutting down non-essentialindustries, commercial establishments and manufacturing centres - has also beentesting states' economic resilience.

States are slashing salaries, demanding an increase inborrowing limits and asking for fund transfers from the centre as tax revenuesand reserves dry up.

Both Telangana (427 cases, seven deaths) and Andhra Pradesh(348 cases, four deaths) have deferred at least portions of the salaries ofsome, including the Chief Minister. The Delhi government has stopped allexpenditure except salaries.

The centre too has gone into belt-tightening mode, withsalaries of union ministers and MPs, starting with the Prime Minister, slashedby 30 per cent for the coming year.

This week the Union Home Ministry released Rs 11,092 croresfrom the State Disaster Risk Management Fund. In March the centre also allowedstates to tap into their respective disaster response funds (SDRF).

The question of funds to fight the novel coronavirusoutbreak became a political issue this week after the centre's decision to suspend,for two years, the Members of Parliament Local Area Development Fund (MP-LAD) -a sum of Rs 5 crore allotted to MPs every year for their constituencies.

The decision was criticised with Congress MP KartiChidambaram calling it "absolutely unacceptable".

Meanwhile, the World Bank has approved $1 billion inemergency funds for India. The funds, the financial agency said, should be usedto "support better screening, contact tracing and laboratorydiagnostics" among other expenditures.