BEIJING — China has stepped up efforts to curb the spread of the novel coronavirus (2019-nCoV). Here are the latest developments:

— Wuhan, the epicenter of the novel coronavirus outbreak, aims to finish testing all suspected cases of novel coronavirus infection in the city by Feb 11. All of the city's 1,499 confirmed cases in severe condition had been hospitalized by the noon of Feb 10.

— Wuhan had combed 3,371 residential communities and villages by Feb 9 in a citywide health screening campaign, with a total of 10.59 million residents from 4.21 million households had been checked, representing a 99-percent and a 98.6-percent screening rate respectively.

— Wuhan received 41 charter flights on Feb 9, with a total of 5,787 medical workers onboard, the most in a single day since the beginning of the epidemic.

— The Agricultural Development Bank of China, the country's rural policy bank, has offered loans worth 805 million yuan (about $115.23 million) using special re-lending funds for national efforts. The loans will be used for manufacturing and business activities related to epidemic prevention and control to ensure sufficient supplies of important medical and living materials.

— China's postal and courier enterprises had handled 10,552 tons of materials for the prevention and control of novel coronavirus pneumonia by the end of Feb 8, data from the State Post Bureau showed.

— A total of 361 free psychological assistance hotlines had been put into place by public mental health institutions across China by the end of January to provide professional psychological assistance for the public amid the novel coronavirus outbreak, according to a psychologist with the Institute of Psychology under the Chinese Academy of Sciences.

— Nearly 4 million community workers are fighting on the front line of 650,000 urban and rural communities following the novel coronavirus pneumonia outbreak, said Chen Yueliang, an official with the Ministry of Civil Affairs on Feb 10.

— The proportion of patients cured from diseases caused by the novel coronavirus infection in China rose to 8.2 percent from 1.3 percent on Jan 27, Mi Feng, an official with the National Health Commission said on Feb 10.

— Chinese e-commerce giant Alibaba and fintech firm Ant Financial announced 20 measures on Feb 10 to mitigate the impact of the novel coronavirus outbreak on small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) by lowering their costs.

— The Ministry of Commerce issued a circular urging local authorities to provide better services for foreign-funded enterprises amid the novel coronavirus outbreak. Efforts should be made to help foreign-funded companies resume production and operation in an orderly manner.

— The impact of the novel coronavirus on China's economic growth is likely to be confined to the first quarter while rebound is expected after the outbreak is contained, analysts said.

— China's major courier firms resumed operations on Feb 10 after an extended Spring Festival holiday due to the outbreak of the novel coronavirus.

Domestic players like ZTO Express, STO Express and Shanghai Yunda Express said their logistics networks would be set in motion starting Feb 10, while delivery timeliness might be compromised due to the epidemic and priorities would be placed on delivering medical supplies.

— Transport authorities in Wuhan, the Chinese city at the center of the novel coronavirus pneumonia outbreak, announced Feb 9 they will launch collection hubs for anti-virus supplies in four overseas cities. The collection hubs will be set up in Los Angeles and Chicago in the United States, Amsterdam in the Netherlands, and Incheon in the Republic of Korea.

— China's National Health Commission on Feb 10 said it received reports of 3,062 new confirmed cases of novel coronavirus infection and 97 deaths on Feb 9 from 31 provincial-level regions and the Xinjiang Production and Construction Corps.

— By the end of Feb 9, a total of 908 people had died of the disease and 40,171 confirmed cases had been reported on the Chinese mainland.

— A total of 3,281 infected patients had been discharged from hospital after recovery by the end of Feb 9.

— New confirmed cases of novel coronavirus pneumonia outside Hubei province totaled 444 on Feb 9, dropping for six consecutive days.

— The hardest-hit Hubei province reported 2,618 new confirmed cases of novel coronavirus infection and 91 new deaths on Feb 9. Its capital city of Wuhan reported 1,921 new infections and 73 new deaths.

— A renovation project of isolation wards of Wuhan-based Tongji Hospital was completed on Feb 9, which is expected to provide 800 beds for severe cases of novel coronavirus infection.

— To protect people's health and avoid the risk of cross infection caused by gatherings, Lhasa, the capital city of Tibet autonomous region, will not hold large-scale traditional religious activities during the Tibetan New Year, which falls on Feb 24 this year.