WUHAN — Substantial achievements have been made since the outbreak of the COVID-19 as China has stepped up efforts to control the spread of the novel coronavirus, officials said on March 6.

Wuhan, the epicenter of the outbreak, has renovated and built 86 designated hospitals and 16 temporary hospitals, with a total of more than 60,000 beds, said Ding Xiangyang, deputy secretary-general of the State Council, at a press conference in Wuhan.

He said no one has contracted the virus among the over 40,000 medical workers who were sent to aid Hubei from across China.

At present, the production of medical materials has been rapidly improved by resuming production and increasing capacity, said Wang Jiangping, vice minister of industry and information technology.

The daily production capacity of protective clothing has increased to 500,000 suits from the initial less than 20,000 suits, while that of regular masks has risen to 100 million units.

As of March 5, the daily supply of nucleic acid test kits had reached 341,600, and the kits in stock can fully meet the testing needs of Hubei province and other parts of the country, Wang said.

Although the rapidly rising trend of infection has been contained in Wuhan, the city as well as the province of Hubei sill face a daunting task of epidemic prevention and control, Ding added.