BEIJING — Here are the latest developments on the novel coronavirus disease (COVID-19) in China:

— Vice-Premier Sun Chunlan has reiterated the need to make all-out efforts to save COVID-19 patients in Central China's Hubei province, stressing scientific and precise treatment.

— Chinese pediatricians published an essay in the journal Nature Medicine on March 13, indicating the possibility of fecal-oral transmission in pediatric COVID-19 infection cases.

— Traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) has applied on 91.91 percent of the patients in Hubei, the hardest-hit province.

— Primary schools, middle schools and secondary vocational schools in northwestern China's Xinjiang Uygur autonomous region will start the postponed new semester on March 23.

— The global spread of the COVID-19 outbreak will have an impact on China's manufacturing sector but at a manageable level, considering China's sound fundamentals of industrial development, massive domestic market, and complete industrial chain.

— As of March 11, about 40 percent of the country's scenic areas with 5A-level ratings, the highest rating for Chinese tourist sites, reopened to the public.

— The National Health Commission received reports of eight new confirmed cases of novel coronavirus infection and seven deaths on the Chinese mainland on March 12. On the same day, 1,318 people were discharged from hospital after recovery.

— The overall confirmed cases on the mainland had reached 80,813 by the end of March 12, including 13,526 patients who were still being treated, 64,111 patients who had been discharged after recovery, and 3,176 people who died of the disease.

— Three imported cases were reported on the Chinese mainland on March 12. Among them, two were reported in Shanghai and one in Beijing. By the end of March 12, 88 imported cases had been reported.

— China's Hubei province reported five new confirmed COVID-19 cases on March 12, all of which were in Wuhan, the provincial capital and epicenter of the outbreak. The latest report brought the total confirmed COVID-19 cases in the hard-hit province to 67,786.

— On March 12, Hubei reported six deaths. Hubei had seen no new confirmed COVID-19 cases for eight consecutive days in its 16 cities and prefectures outside Wuhan.

— A leading group of China's COVID-19 response called for more targeted prevention measures to stem the cross-border spread of the novel coronavirus and promised help for overseas fight against the pandemic.

— China will send investigation and research teams to some provincial-level regions in the country to check the progress of their work and production resumption as the coronavirus outbreak subsides.