BEIJING, Nov. 6 (Xinhua) -- China has basically completed the construction of an information service system for internet-based poverty alleviation, and telemedicine now covers all county-level hospitals in poverty-stricken counties, according to a press conference on Friday.

China has been stepping up efforts concerning internet-based services since 2016, such as increasing network coverage and promoting rural e-commerce, to boost the development of China's impoverished areas, said Yang Xiaowei, deputy head of the Cyberspace Administration of China (CAC).

Fiber optic availability in the country's poor villages has risen to 98 percent, up from less than 70 percent, and the rural e-commerce promotion project now covers 832 poor counties, according to the press conference.

China's rural areas have witnessed an increase in online retail sales, with 1.7 trillion yuan (about 256.8 billion U.S. dollars) of purchases made in 2019, up from 180 billion yuan in 2014.

Additionally, a national digital village pilot project has been launched among 27 key counties that have been lifted out of poverty through national-level efforts, in a bid to explore new models for rural digital development, according to the press conference.