BEIJING — A total of 23 provincial-level regions and the Xinjiang Production and Construction Corps reported no increase of newly confirmed cases of novel coronavirus (COVID-19) infection on Feb 24, Mi Feng, a spokesperson for the National Health Commission, said on Feb 25.

Seven provinces reported no more than two new confirmed cases on Feb 24, Mi said at a news conference in Beijing.

The overall number of new infections of COVID-19 outside Hubei province, the epicenter of the outbreak, has dropped to nine on Feb 24, Mi said.

The number of new cases reported outside Hubei on Feb 3 was 890, according to the commission's daily report.

The commission said it received reports of 508 new confirmed cases on Feb 24 from 31 provincial-level regions and the Xinjiang Production and Construction Corps, including 499 in Hubei.