BEIJING — China is in a nationwide mobilization to curb the spread of the novel coronavirus. Here are the latest developments:

— Police across China have investigated 776 criminal cases and 1,804 administrative cases and punished 2,556 people for illegal activities related to wildlife during the novel coronavirus outbreak, said Liu Xuejun with the Ministry of Public Security on Feb 27.

— Health institutions in regions across China deemed to be of low epidemic risks shall provide healthcare services in full to meet people's healthcare needs, according to a circular issued by the National Health Commission.

— More than 30 percent of China's small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) have resumed work and production as the country enhances policy support to make it easier for them to reopen businesses amid the novel coronavirus outbreak, according to Zhang Kejian, vice-minister of industry and information technology.

— Renowned Chinese respiratory specialist Zhong Nanshan said he is confident that the novel coronavirus outbreak would be basically under control by the end of April, thanks to strong measures taken by the Chinese government and the joint efforts made by medics across the country.

Speaking at a press conference in Guangzhou, Zhong said though the first case of COVID-19 was discovered in China, it does not mean that it originated from China.

— China has stepped up oversight of illegal wildlife trade via e-commerce platforms, the country's top market regulator said on Feb 27.

More than 750,000 pieces of information about wildlife trade were removed or blocked from major e-commerce platforms while 17,000 online stores or accounts were closed, said Liang Aifu, an official with the State Administration for Market Regulation, at a press conference.

— Loans issued to firms engaged in containing the novel coronavirus outbreak came in at over 953 billion yuan (about $135.8 billion) as of Feb 26, the country's banking regulator told a news conference on Feb 27.

China will offer greater credit support for the anti-epidemic battle, said Xiao Yuanqi, chief risk officer of the China Banking and Insurance Regulatory Commission (CBIRC), adding that the regulator has instructed banks and insurers to try their best to finance firms in areas such as health and disease prevention as well as the construction of public health infrastructure.

— China has rolled out a series of measures to facilitate entry and exit services in an effort to support the country's resumption of work and production amid the novel coronavirus epidemic, according to the National Immigration Administration (NIA).

Adopting differentiated measures to curb the epidemic, low-risk regions should fully resume their services for entry and exit, while medium-risk regions need to gradually reopen services in accordance with their epidemic situation. Emergency appointment services will be available in high-risk areas to handle applications of urgent cases, the NIA said in a statement.

— Chinese health authority said on Feb 27 it received reports of 433 new confirmed cases of novel coronavirus infection and 29 deaths on Feb 26 from 31 provincial-level regions on the mainland, bringing overall confirmed cases to 78,497 and total deaths to 2,744.

— Hubei province, the epicenter of the novel coronavirus outbreak, reported 409 new confirmed cases of infection and 26 new deaths on Feb 26, the provincial health commission said on Feb 27.

— Feb 26 saw 2,750 people on the mainland walk out of hospital after recovery, much higher than the new confirmed infections. The daily number of newly cured and discharged novel coronavirus patients on the Chinese mainland has surpassed that of new infections for the ninth consecutive day, the National Health Commission said on Feb 27.

— A total of 17 provincial-level regions in China — Gansu, Liaoning, Guizhou, Yunnan, Guangxi, Guangdong, Fujian, Shanxi, Jiangxi, Sichuan, Anhui, Hainan, Qinghai, Inner Mongolia, Xinjiang, Jilin and Shaanxi have lowered their emergency response levels to the novel coronavirus.

— By the end of Feb 26, 91 confirmed cases including two deaths had been reported in the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (SAR), 10 confirmed cases in the Macao SAR, and 32 in Taiwan including one death.

Twenty-four patients in Hong Kong, seven in Macao and five in Taiwan had been discharged from hospital after recovery.