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

— China issued a travel alert on the evening of March 17, urging its tourists to keep themselves updated about the novel coronavirus epidemic situation abroad and avoid travel to countries hit hard by the virus.

— About 96.37 percent of the COVID-19 patients outside Hubei, the hardest-hit province, and 91.05 percent in Hubei have received TCM treatment which has proved to be effective.

— Some COVID-19 vaccines developed by Chinese higher education institutions are expected to enter clinical trials or provided for emergency use as soon as possible.

— China has disposed of 159,000 metric tons of medical waste since late January, with a disposal capacity reaching 6,058.8 tons per day, up from 4,902.8 tons each day before the epidemic outbreak.

— Over 90 percent of the major industrial enterprises in China's provincial-level regions except for certain areas including Hubei have resumed work and production, with regions like Zhejiang, Jiangsu, Shanghai, Shandong, Guangxi and Chongqing almost saw nearly 100 percent of their enterprises back in production.

— Starting from March 17, people coming to Wuhan from outside the Chinese mainland will be quarantined for 14 days at designated places at their own expense.

— About half of the 1,961 COVID-19 patients admitted to Wuhan's field hospital Leishenshan had been discharged, with 942 patients still undergoing treatment.

— A total of 21 new confirmed cases of COVID-19 and 13 deaths were reported on the Chinese mainland March 16. Of the deaths, 12 were in Hubei province and one in Shaanxi province.

Also on March 16, 930 people were discharged from hospital after recovery, while the number of severe cases decreased by 202 to 2,830.

The overall confirmed cases on the mainland had reached 80,881 by the end of March 16, including 8,976 patients who were still being treated, 68,679 patients who had been discharged after recovery, and 3,226 people who died from the disease.

By the end of March 16, 157 confirmed cases including four deaths had been reported in the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (SAR), 11 confirmed cases in the Macao SAR, and 67 in Taiwan including one death.

— Twenty imported cases were reported on the mainland on March 16. Among them, nine were reported in Beijing, three in Shanghai, three in Guangdong, and one in Zhejiang, Shandong, Guangxi, Yunnan and Shaanxi respectively. By the end of Monday, 143 imported cases had been reported.

— Central China's Hubei province reported one new confirmed case of COVID-19, bringing the total confirmed COVID-19 cases in the hard-hit province to 67,799.

As of March 16, Hubei had seen no newly confirmed COVID-19 cases for 12 consecutive days in its 16 cities and prefectures outside Wuhan.

The province also saw 893 patients discharged from hospital after recovery on March 16 bringing the total number of discharged patients in the province to 55,987.

— The first batch of medical assistance teams were scheduled to leave Hubei on March 17 as the epidemic situation has been greatly eased.

The 3,675 medical staff belonging to 41 medical teams from across China have assisted 14 temporary hospitals and seven designated hospitals in Wuhan.

— Over 1.5 million students in their final year of senior and junior high schools in China's Guizhou province and Xinjiang Uygur autonomous region returned to school March 16, as the coronavirus spread has been basically curbed.

— Hubei has started sending out workers after new infections petered out in most of its cities. The cities of Jingzhou, Huanggang, Xianning and Qianjiang have arranged chartered vehicles to send out thousands of migrant workers at a time when factories across China are rushing to resume work amid a labor crunch.