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

— Chinese health authority on Feb 23 said it received reports of 648 new confirmed cases of COVID-19 infection and 97 deaths on Feb 22 from 31 provincial-level regions and the Xinjiang Production and Construction Corps.

Among the deaths, 96 were in Hubei province and one in Guangdong province, according to the National Health Commission.

— The overall confirmed cases on the Chinese mainland had reached 76,936 by the end of Feb 22, and 2,442 people had died of the disease.

— A total of 22,888 patients infected with COVID-19 had been discharged from hospital after recovery by the end of Feb 22, the Chinese health authority said on Feb 23.

— Hubei province, the epicenter of the novel coronavirus outbreak, reported 630 new confirmed cases of the virus infection and 96 new deaths on Feb 22, the provincial health commission said on Feb 23.

The latest report brought the total confirmed cases in the hard-hit province to 64,084.

— Supply of daily necessities has been stable in China, including the epidemic-hit Hubei province, despite the ongoing COVID-19 outbreak that heavily impacted daily life and factory activities, an official with the Ministry of Commerce said on Feb 22.

— The State Council has issued a guideline on strengthening enterprises' measures preventing and containing the novel coronavirus spread in a bid to promote work and production resumption in an orderly manner.

Differentiated moves should be taken in accordance with local conditions to enhance health management, said the document released on Feb 21 by the joint prevention and control mechanism of the State Council.