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

— President Xi Jinping on Feb 14 stressed improving the mechanism for major epidemic prevention and control and the national public health emergency management system.

— A senior Communist Party of China (CPC) official has called on the country's political and legal organs to provide strong support to win the battle against the novel coronavirus outbreak while achieving this year's economic and social development goals.

— Chinese authorities urged local governments to reinforce safety as the country resumes work and production amid the novel coronavirus outbreak.

— Wuhan, the epicenter of the novel coronavirus pneumonia outbreak, said on Feb 14 that traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) will be used to treat all the non-critical patients at designated and temporary hospitals citywide.

— Chinese authorities have rolled out a slew of supportive measures, including tax incentives to manufacturers, to ensure medical supplies amid the novel coronavirus outbreak.

— Chinese health authorities said they received reports of 5,090 new confirmed cases of novel coronavirus infection and 121 deaths on Feb 13 from 31 provincial-level regions and the Xinjiang Production and Construction Corps.

— The overall confirmed cases on the Chinese mainland had reached 63,851 by the end of Feb 13, and 1,380 people had died of the disease. A total of 6,723 people had been discharged from the hospital after recovery.

— Chinese health authorities said 1,716 medical staff had been infected with the novel coronavirus by Feb 11, accounting for 3.8 percent of the overall confirmed cases in the country. Among them, six people had died from the virus, accounting for 0.4 percent of the country's total deaths.

— China has developed convalescent plasma to treat patients who are infected with the novel coronavirus, according to the China National Biotec Group. The company said they have collected plasma from some recovered patients to prepare therapeutic products including convalescent plasma and immune globulin.

— North China's Tianjin municipality introduced a ban on Feb 14 on the eating of wild animals.

— A nine-month-old baby infected with the novel coronavirus was discharged form a Beijing hospital on Feb 14 after recovery.

— Hubei province reported 4,823 new confirmed cases of the novel coronavirus infection and 116 new deaths on Feb 13, bringing the total confirmed cases in the hard-hit province to 51,986.

The new confirmed cases included 3,095 clinically diagnosed cases and the new deaths included eight who were clinically diagnosed.

The capital city of Wuhan reported 3,910 new infections and 88 new deaths on Feb 13.

— An expert from Wuhan called upon cured patients who had been infected with the virus to donate plasma at hospitals as antibodies have been identified in the plasma of some patients.