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

— China has offered plasma therapy for 245 COVID-19 patients by Feb 28, and 91 cases have shown improvement in clinical indicators and symptoms, a health official said on Feb 28.

—China's forestry and grassland authority have moved to strengthen the protection of wild animals, as part of the efforts to implement the country's new decision on thoroughly banning the illegal trading of wildlife.

— China's education authorities are carrying out a prudent study on the arrangement of this year's college entrance exam amid the novel coronavirus outbreak, an official said on Feb 28.

— China has vowed to roll out policies to address difficulties in employment and graduation faced by university graduates amid the coronavirus outbreak in the hard-hit Hubei province, Vice Minister of Education Weng Tiehui said on Feb 28.

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

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

A total of 36,117 patients infected with the novel coronavirus had been discharged from the 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.