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

— China reported 327 new confirmed cases of novel coronavirus infection and 44 deaths on Feb 27 from 31 provincial-level regions and the Xinjiang Production and Construction Corps, the health authority said Feb 28.

Among the deaths, 41 were in Hubei province, two in Beijing and one in the Xinjiang Production and Construction Corps.

Nine new confirmed cases of COVID-19 on Feb 27 were outside Hubei province, epicenter of the outbreak.

— The daily number of newly cured and discharged novel coronavirus patients on the Chinese mainland has surpassed that of new infections for the 10th consecutive day.

Feb 27 saw 3,622 people on the mainland walk out of hospital after recovery, much higher than the new confirmed infections of 327.

A total of 36,117 patients infected with the novel coronavirus had been discharged from hospital by the end of Feb 27.

— Hubei province reported 318 new confirmed cases of novel coronavirus infection and 41 new deaths on Feb 27.

Five new confirmed cases were reported outside the provincial capital Wuhan on Feb 27.

The latest report brought the number of total confirmed cases in the hard-hit province to 65,914 and total deaths to 2,682.