China has issued a guideline on advancing the development of the country's western regions.
An official statement says the government will strengthen fiscal and taxation policy support.
It says efforts should be made to strengthen public services for employment and entrepreneurship, to support the development of education, and to improve medical services.
Chinese health authorities say seven new confirmed COVID-19 cases were reported on the Chinese mainland on Sunday.
Four of the cases were imported.
Three cases were domestically transmitted: two in Jilin Province and one in Shanghai.
No deaths related to the disease were reported on Sunday.
Beijing plans to conditionally ease pandemic prevention and control restrictions at around 700 nursing homes.
The city closed off nursing homes since January 27 amid challenges from the novel coronavirus.
About 48,000 senior citizens remained in nursing homes during the Spring Festival holiday and no one has been infected.
The Beijing Municipal Civil Affairs Bureau says starting from today, family visitors, returning and newly admitted senior citizens, and medical personnel are among those who will be allowed to enter the nursing homes.
They will have to take at least two nucleic acid tests before and after 14 days of isolation and medical observation.
The bureau says Beijing will also allocate about 14 million dollars to support the operation of elderly service institutions.
China has issued a statement opposing U.S. action targeting Huawei. Beijing is calling for normal trade and cooperation between the two sides.
The statement came after Washington announced new export controls on Huawei that limit the tech giant's access to semiconductor technology.
The Ministry of Commerce says China will take all necessary measures to safeguard the legitimate rights and interests of Chinese enterprises.
A tally by Johns Hopkins University shows that confirmed COVID-19 cases worldwide topped 4.7 million on Sunday.
Over 314,000 people worldwide have died of the disease.
The United States has suffered the most from the pandemic, with nearly 1.5 million cases and over 89,000 deaths.
Countries with over 200,000 cases also included Russia, Britain, Brazil, Spain and Italy.
New York Governor Andrew Cuomo took a coronavirus test on live TV as he announced all people experiencing flu-like symptoms are now eligible for testing.
"We also have put together a network of testing sites all across the state. And we have a new agreement with CVS, which has a tremendous network across the state, where they are going to be bringing on testing capacity. So, we thank them very much for that. But we have now 700 testing sites."
The state is currently testing about 40,000 people per day.
The number of confirmed COVID-19 cases across Africa has reached over 81,000 as of Sunday morning.
The continental disease control and prevention agency says over 31,000 patients have recovered, and over 2,700 have died.
The Africa Centers for Disease Control estimates the fatality rate to be around 3.4 percent across the continent.
Israel's parliament has approved a new unity government led by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his former rival Benny Gantz.
The vote for the new government ended more than a year of political deadlock in the country.
Netanyahu was sworn in as the prime minister and Gantz as an alternate prime minister, a new position in Israeli politics.
Right-wing Netanyahu and centrist Gantz signed the unity deal last month.
Netanyahu will serve as prime minister for 18 months before he's replaced by Gantz.
Netanyahu takes office as his corruption trial is set to begin on May 24. He has denied all charges against him.
The number of 5G base stations in use across China exceeds 200-thousand.
A Chinese official says that the digital economy is a growth driver, accounting for over one-third of the gross domestic product.
China Mobile says it will have over 300-thousand 5G base stations by the end of this year.
It's reported that over 50 million mobile phone users are enjoying 5G service so far.