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

— China reported 1,886 new confirmed cases of novel coronavirus infection and 98 deaths on Feb 17 from 31 provincial-level regions and the Xinjiang Production and Construction Corps.

Among the deaths, 93 were in Hubei province, three in Henan, and one in Hebei and Hunan respectively. Another 1,432 new suspected cases were reported on Feb 17.

— China's daily new confirmed cases of the novel coronavirus pneumonia outside Hubei, the epicenter province of the outbreak, have since Feb 3 dropped for 14 consecutive days. A total of 79 new confirmed cases were reported on Feb 17 outside Hubei.

— Feb 17 saw 1,701 people walk out of hospital after recovery. A total of 12,552 patients infected with the novel coronavirus had been discharged from hospital after recovery by the end of Feb 17.

By the end of Feb 17, a total of 1,868 people had died of the disease and 72,436 confirmed cases of novel coronavirus infection had been reported in 31 provincial-level regions and the Xinjiang Production and Construction Corps in China.

— Hubei province, center of the novel coronavirus outbreak, reported 1,807 new confirmed cases and 93 new deaths on Feb 17. The latest report brought the total confirmed cases in the hard-hit province to 59,989. Wuhan, the provincial capital, recorded a total of 42,752 confirmed cases.

— The National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC), China's top political advisory body, mulled postponing its annual session as related matters were studied when its Chairperson's Council met on Feb 17.

The third session of the 13th CPPCC National Committee was originally planned to open on March 3 in Beijing.

The Chairperson's Council studied matters related to postponing the annual session in order to implement the overall plan of the Communist Party of China Central Committee for epidemic prevention and control and ensure that people's lives and health are put as the top priority.

— A joint expert team consisting of experts from China and the World Health Organization on Feb 17 began field inspections on the prevention and control of the novel coronavirus outbreak. The team members are scheduled to go to Beijing, Guangdong province and Sichuan province to conduct inspections.

— As Chinese firms cautiously resumed business amid the coronavirus epidemic, some entrepreneurs opted to nucleic acid tests to make sure their employees are safe.