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

— The State Post Bureau said while continuing to fight the novel coronavirus epidemic, China eyes to recover more than 60 percent of the courier sector's normal delivery capacity by the end of February.

— Wuhan, the epicenter of the coronavirus outbreak, will conduct nucleic acid tests for all elderly care institutions by Feb 28 as some confirmed and suspected cases were reported in the facilities.

— Liaoning and Gansu provinces have lowered their emergency response from first-level to third-level after having reported no new coronavirus case.

— Peng Yinhua, a 29-year-old doctor at the First People's Hospital of Jiangxia District in Wuhan, was the latest medical worker, and among the youngest, who died from the virus on Feb 20, leaving behind his pregnant wife and a wedding yet to be held.

— Hainan Airlines will resume more than 450 flights starting Feb 22, to aid the work resumption of enterprises across the country.

— Chinese health authority said it received reports of 397 new confirmed cases of novel coronavirus infection and 109 deaths on Feb 21 from 31 provincial-level regions and the Xinjiang Production and Construction Corps.

Among the deaths, 106 were in Hubei province and one in Hebei province, Shanghai and the Xinjiang Production and Construction Corps, respectively.

— The overall confirmed cases on the Chinese mainland had reached 76,288 by the end of Feb 21, and 2,345 people had died of the disease.

— China's daily number of newly cured and discharged COVID-19 patients has surpassed that of new confirmed infections for the fourth consecutive day. Feb 21 saw 2,393 people walk out of hospital after recovery, much higher than the number of the same day's new confirmed infections, which was 397.

A total of 20,659 patients infected with the novel coronavirus had been discharged from hospital after recovery by the end of Feb 21.

— Hubei province reported 366 new confirmed cases and 106 new deaths on Feb 21. The latest report brought the total confirmed cases in the hard-hit province to 63,454.

— The World Health Organization (WHO) announced on Feb 21 that the WHO-led team of international experts, who are currently in China to investigate the novel coronavirus outbreak, will travel to Wuhan on Feb 22.

— Chinese researchers have released the first pathology report on the novel coronavirus disease, analysing its impact on a patient's lungs, liver and heart by studying the biopsy samples at autopsy.

— China's auto sales and production have taken a hard hit from the novel coronavirus outbreak, but industry insiders expect a rebound in April if the epidemic is gradually brought under control.

The retail sales of passenger vehicles plunged 92 percent on an annual basis in the first 16 days of February.