BEIJING — China has stepped up efforts to curb the spread of the novel coronavirus. Here are the latest developments:

— The number of cities and counties classified as high-risk in Central China's Hubei province, the center of the COVID-19 outbreak, has fallen by almost half compared with three days ago. By the end of March 6, 19 cities and counties had been classified as high-risk, with 37 classified as low-risk and 20 as mid-risk.

The province had classified its cities and counties based on the risks of the epidemic on March 4. Twenty-two cities and counties had been classified as low-risk, with 17 classified as mid-risk and 37 classified as high-risk, by the end of March 3.

— A rapid testing kit for the COVID-19 antibody with results available in 29 minutes was approved by the National Medical Products Administration.

Developed by a research team led by Xiamen University, the kit can be used for clinical cases, suspected cases and the screening of high-risk groups, improving the testing efficiency of front-line medical institutions.

— Wuhan, capital of Hubei, has renovated and built 86 designated hospitals and 16 temporary hospitals, with more than 60,000 beds, said Ding Xiangyang, deputy secretary-general of the State Council. No one has contracted the virus among the over 40,000 medical workers who were sent to aid Hubei from across China.

— 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.

— China's foreign trade of goods fell 11 percent year-on-year in the first two months of this year to $592 billion amid disruptions caused by the outbreak of COVID-19.

— China will quicken the development of 5G technology to crank up the economic engine in the battle against the COVID-19 outbreak, with tailored measures to be adopted to fast-track the construction of the 5G network in regions with low health risks.

— China's logistics activities slowed in February due to the impact of the virus outbreak.

— China's procurator-general has called for strict law enforcement while dealing with cases and flexibility in approach amid the COVID-19 outbreak.

— The number of new COVID-19 cases in China dropped to double-digit figures on March 6 for the first time since Jan 20.

A total of 99 newly confirmed cases of novel coronavirus infection and 28 deaths were reported on March 6 on the Chinese mainland. The deaths were all reported in Hubei province.

The overall confirmed cases on the mainland had reached 80,651 by the end of March 6, including 22,177 patients who were still being treated, 55,404 patients who had been discharged after recovery, and 3,070 people who had died from the disease.

Also on March 6, 24 imported cases of novel coronavirus infection were reported on the mainland, including 17 in Gansu province, three in Beijing, three in Shanghai and one in Guangdong province. By the end of March 6, 60 imported cases had been reported.