BEIJING — China's new confirmed cases of novel coronavirus pneumonia outside Hubei province, where the epicenter city of Wuhan is located, has been dropping for five consecutive days, according to the National Health Commission (NHC).

A total of 509 new confirmed cases were reported on Feb 8 outside Hubei, about 42.8 percent lower than the number reported on Feb 3, said Mi Feng, spokesperson of the NHC.

The numbers of new confirmed cases in these provinces during the past days were 890 (Feb 3), 731 (Feb 4), 707 (Feb 5), 696 (Feb 6) and 558 (Feb 7).

"It shows that the joint prevention and control mechanism incorporating different regions in the country as well as strict management are taking effect," Mi said.

The commission received reports of 2,656 new confirmed cases and 89 deaths on Feb 8 from 31 provincial-level regions and the Xinjiang Production and Construction Corps.