Fan Yifei, the deputy governor of China’s central bank, said on Saturday that banks had been urged to provide new banknotes to customers whenever possible. The central bank made an “emergency issuance” of 4bn yuan in new notes to Hubei province, the centre of the outbreak, before the recent lunar new year holiday, Fan added. The measures are intended to “secure the public’s safety and health when using cash”, Fan said. But it is unclear how wide an impact the central bank’s disinfection work will have, with increasing numbers of Chinese people preferring mobile payments over cash in recent years....
