BEIJING — China's new confirmed cases of novel coronavirus pneumonia outside Hubei province, where the epicenter city of Wuhan is located, has been dropping for seven consecutive days, according to the National Health Commission (NHC).

Addressing a press conference on Feb 11, He Qinghua, an NHC official, said the outbreak situation in provincial-level regions except Hubei has shown an overall downward trend since Feb 3.

A total of 381 new confirmed cases were reported on Feb 10 outside Hubei, the data showed.

The numbers of new confirmed cases in these provinces from Feb 3 to 9 were 890, 731, 707, 696, 558, 509 and 444.

The commission received reports of 2,478 new confirmed cases and 108 deaths on Feb 10 from 31 provincial-level regions and the Xinjiang Production and Construction Corps.

The measures taken by Chinese authorities, including extending the Chinese New Year holiday, promoting off-peak travel and stepping up the management of people's movement in key regions, have played a positive and important role in reducing infection rates and containing the outbreak, He said.

The NHC has released a guideline on protection against the novel coronavirus for groups of people with different infection risks that offers tailored suggestions on the use of protective equipment, according to the official.