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

— China reported 394 new confirmed cases of novel coronavirus infection and 114 deaths on Feb 19 from 31 provincial-level regions and the Xinjiang Production and Construction Corps.

Among the deaths, 108 were in Hubei province and one in Hebei, Shanghai, Fujian, Shandong, Yunnan and Shaanxi, respectively. Another 1,277 new suspected cases were reported on Feb 19.

— China's daily number of newly cured and discharged novel coronavirus patients has surpassed that of new confirmed infections for a second consecutive day.

Feb 19 saw 1,779 people walk out of hospital after recovery, much higher than the number of the same day's new confirmed infections, which was 394.

A total of 16,155 patients infected with the novel coronavirus had been discharged from hospital after recovery by the end of Feb 19.

— China's daily new confirmed cases of the novel coronavirus pneumonia outside Hubei, the epicenter province of the outbreak, have dropped for 16 consecutive days. A total of 45 new confirmed cases were reported on Feb 19 outside Hubei, down from 890 on Feb 3.

— Hubei province, center of the novel coronavirus outbreak, reported 349 new confirmed cases and 108 new deaths on Feb 19. The latest report brought the total confirmed cases in the hard-hit province to 62,031.

— The National Health Commission issued on Feb 19 an updated version of the diagnosis and treatment plan for the novel coronavirus pneumonia.

The latest version of the plan abolished different epidemic-related standards inside and outside the epicenter of Hubei province, and will only identify "suspected cases" and "confirmed cases" across the country.

— China has gone all out to treat novel coronavirus pneumonia patients both with mild symptoms and in severe conditions alike in the epicenter city of Wuhan as the number of hospital beds reserved for novel coronavirus pneumonia patients has risen to about 40,000 and the supporting medical personnel over 30,000.

— Procuratorial organs across China have prosecuted 290 suspects on charges related to the prevention and control of the epidemic.

— Over 100 cities in China have adopted QR codes to facilitate the control of the novel coronavirus and work resumption.

The QR codes, produced with the mobile app Alipay, are based on the users' movements over the previous two weeks and tell whether users have been to virus-hit areas. All cities in the provinces of Zhejiang, Sichuan and Hainan have adopted health QR codes, with 15 million people registered for the QR codes in Zhejiang alone.

— Another case of novel coronavirus infection was confirmed in Taiwan on Feb 19, raising the total number of novel coronavirus cases to 24.