BEIJING, Feb. 22 (Xinhua) -- China has stepped up efforts to curb the spread of the novel coronavirus. Here are the latest developments:

-- Some members of the China-World Health Organization (WHO) joint expert team traveled to Wuhan Saturday to investigate the COVID-19 outbreak.

-- Wuhan, the epicenter of the novel coronavirus outbreak, has required COVID-19 patients who were discharged from hospital to go on a 14-day quarantine at designated places for medical observation.

-- Wuhan has conducted nucleic acid tests for all backlog of patients, including those confirmed or suspected to be infected with the virus, close contacts of confirmed cases, and patients with fever.

-- Traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) has participated in the treatments of over 60,000 patients of the novel coronavirus disease in China.

-- The ongoing novel coronavirus outbreak has not contaminated China's environment as the quality of urban air, surface water and drinking water sources are all kept stable.

-- Workers in Beijing finished the construction of a new mask factory Saturday to meet the surging demand amid the novel coronavirus outbreak.

-- The State Post Bureau said while continuing to fight the novel coronavirus epidemic, China eyes recovering more than 60 percent of the courier sector's normal delivery capacity by the end of February.

-- Wuhan will conduct nucleic acid tests for all elderly care institutions by Feb. 28 as some confirmed and suspected cases were reported in the facilities.

-- Liaoning and Gansu provinces have lowered their emergency response from first-level to third-level after having reported no new coronavirus case.

-- Peng Yinhua, a 29-year-old doctor at the First People's Hospital of Jiangxia District in Wuhan, was the latest medical worker, and among the youngest, who died from the virus on Thursday night, leaving behind his pregnant wife and a wedding yet to be held.

-- Hainan Airlines will resume more than 450 flights starting Saturday, to aid the work resumption of enterprises across the country.

-- Chinese health authority said it received reports of 397 new confirmed cases of novel coronavirus infection and 109 deaths on Friday from 31 provincial-level regions and the Xinjiang Production and Construction Corps.

Among the deaths, 106 were in Hubei Province and one in Hebei Province, Shanghai and the Xinjiang Production and Construction Corps, respectively.

-- The overall confirmed cases on the Chinese mainland had reached 76,288 by the end of Friday, and 2,345 people had died of the disease.

-- China's daily number of newly cured and discharged COVID-19 patients has surpassed that of new confirmed infections for the fourth consecutive day. Friday saw 2,393 people walk out of hospital after recovery, much higher than the number of the same day's new confirmed infections, which was 397.

A total of 20,659 patients infected with the novel coronavirus had been discharged from hospital after recovery by the end of Friday.

-- Hubei Province reported 366 new confirmed cases and 106 new deaths on Friday. The latest report brought the total confirmed cases in the hard-hit province to 63,454.

-- Chinese researchers have released the first pathology report on the novel coronavirus disease, analysing its impact on a patient's lungs, liver and heart by studying the biopsy samples at autopsy.

-- China's auto sales and production have taken a hard hit from the novel coronavirus outbreak, but industry insiders expect a rebound in April if the epidemic is gradually brought under control.

The retail sales of passenger vehicles plunged 92 percent on an annual basis in the first 16 days of February.