Tourists look around at Times Square in New York, the United States, March 5, 2020. (Xinhua/Wang Ying)

The plan includes nearly 7.8 billion U.S. dollars in new funding to combat the spread of the virus at the local, state, national and international levels, and it also authorizes 500 million dollars to allow Medicare beneficiaries to access telehealth programs.

WASHINGTON, March 7  -- U.S. President Donald Trump on Friday signed into law a 8.3-billion-dollar emergency funding package the Congress approved earlier this week, as the spread of the COVID-19 requires urgent support from the federal government.

The U.S. Senate overwhelmingly passed the funding package on Thursday, following a similar bipartisan approval by the House of Representatives a day earlier.