BEIJING, Feb. 3 (Xinhua) -- China has stepped up efforts to curb the spread of the novel coronavirus (2019-nCoV), shoring up its economy and providing support for local governments and individuals to fight the epidemic as a growing number of confirmed cases of infections is reported.

Here are the latest developments:

-- Chinese health authorities Monday said they had received reports of 2,829 new confirmed cases of novel coronavirus infection on Sunday, bringing the total to 17,205 from 31 provincial-level regions and the Xinjiang Production and Construction Corps. A total of 361 people had died of the disease on the Chinese mainland by the end of Sunday.

-- By the end of Sunday, 15 confirmed cases had been reported in the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (SAR), eight in the Macao SAR and 10 in Taiwan.

-- The novel coronavirus epidemic will only have a temporary impact on China's economy, and the country's good economic fundamentals for long-term growth remain unchanged, said Lian Weiliang, deputy chief of the National Development and Reform Commission, at a press conference Monday in Beijing.

-- Several departments of China's central government have rolled out favorable policies or provided funds for local governments and individuals to fight the novel coronavirus, according to Li Bin, deputy director of the National Health Commission, at a press conference on Monday.

-- Eight large transport aircraft dispatched by the Chinese People's Liberation Army air force Sunday landed at Wuhan Tianhe International Airport, delivering 795 military medical staff and 58 tonnes of supplies to help the city fight the epidemic.

-- Medical supplies to control the outbreak of the novel coronavirus are in a "tight balance" in central China's Hubei Province while related production capacity is recovering fast, according to Tian Yulong, chief engineer of the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology.

-- The supplies of daily necessities across the country remained ample with stable prices amid the epidemic, the Ministry of Commerce said Monday.

-- Chinese experts warned that the novel coronavirus could be transmitted through the digestive system, according to the latest findings.

-- Multiple medical institutions are conducting clinical trials for the anti-novel coronavirus drug Remdesivir, Chinese health authorities said Monday.

-- Six biotech companies in Hubei Province have developed new products for detecting the novel coronavirus, according to Wang Wei, director of the Hubei Provincial Department of Science and Technology.

-- At least seven small-molecule drugs, specifically targeting the RNA polymerase and protease of 2019-nCoV, are currently in clinical research, renowned Chinese respiratory expert Zhong Nanshan said in an exclusive interview with Xinhua.

-- The headquarters for the control and treatment of the epidemic caused by the novel coronavirus in Hubei Province has announced that it will conduct centralized isolation of all suspected infection cases to better contain the epidemic.

-- China has built a makeshift hospital in 10 days to battle against the novel coronavirus in Wuhan, the epicenter of the virus outbreak. Huoshenshan (Fire God Mountain) Hospital with 1,000 beds was delivered Sunday in Wuhan.

-- A pregnant woman with novel coronavirus pneumonia has delivered a healthy baby in northeast China's Heilongjiang Province, doctors said Monday.

-- Eight patients with novel coronavirus pneumonia were discharged from Wuhan Jinyintan Hospital in Hubei on Monday after they had been cured by traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) or a combined treatment of TCM and Western medicine.

-- Southwest China's Yunnan Province has shut down 2,673 live poultry trading markets and banned the sales of wildlife and related products at farm produce fairs, supermarkets, restaurants and online stores for the epidemic control, provincial market supervisory authorities said Monday.