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

— Chinese health authority said on Feb 25 it received reports of 508 new confirmed cases of novel coronavirus infection and 71 deaths on Feb 24 from 31 provincial-level regions and the Xinjiang Production and Construction Corps by the end of Feb 24, bringing overall confirmed cases and total deaths on the mainland to 77,658 and 2,663, respectively.

— Hubei province, the epicenter of the novel coronavirus outbreak, reported 499 new confirmed cases of novel coronavirus infection and 68 new deaths on Feb 24, the provincial health commission said on Feb 25.

— China's daily new confirmed cases of COVID-19 outside Hubei province, epicenter of the outbreak, dropped to nine on Feb 24, according to the National Health Commission.

— China's daily number of newly cured and discharged novel coronavirus patients has surpassed that of new infections for the seventh consecutive day, according to the National Health Commission on Feb 25.

Feb 24 saw 2,589 people walk out of hospital after recovery, the National Health Commission said in its daily report. A total of 27,323 patients infected with the novel coronavirus had been discharged from hospital after recovery by the end of Feb 24, Chinese health authority said on Feb 25.

— China's unprecedented public health responses to the COVID-19 outbreak have yielded notable results in blocking human-to-human transmission of the virus, preventing or at least delaying hundreds of thousands of cases, said a joint expert team consisting of experts from China and the World Health Organization.

The assessment was given at a press conference on Feb 24 in Beijing after the 25-member team conducted a nine-day field study trip in China.