Senior citizens chat at a retirement home in Beijing. [Photo/Xinhua]

China had 330,000 retirement homes and other nursing facilities by the end of March, a year-on-year increase of 60.9 percent, an official with the Ministry of Civil Affairs said on Tuesday.

The number of beds at such facilities reached 8.17 million, 4.8 percent more than last year, Jia Weizhou, the ministry's spokesman, told a quarterly news conference in Beijing.

Jia said the ministry has continued its effort to curb fire safety risks at eldercare facilities as part of a three-year campaign that will end next year. It also asked such facilities to ramp up epidemic control efforts to ensure there are no COVID-19 infections.