BEIJING, Feb. 29 (Xinhua) -- China has stepped up efforts to curb the spread of the novel coronavirus. Here are the latest developments:

-- China reported 427 new confirmed cases of novel coronavirus infection and 47 deaths on Friday on the Chinese mainland.

Among the deaths, 45 were in Hubei Province, one in Beijing and Henan respectively, according to the National Health Commission.

-- On Friday, 2,885 people were discharged from hospital after recovery, while the number of severe cases decreased by 288 to 7,664.

A total of 39,002 people had been discharged from hospital after recovery.

The National Health Commission said 658,587 close contacts had been traced, adding that among them, 10,193 were discharged from medical observation Friday, with 58,233 others still under medical observation.

-- Wuhan, the provincial capital of Hubei, reported 420 new confirmed cases and 37 new deaths on Friday. In total, the city has registered 48,557 confirmed cases and 2,169 deaths.

-- Liang Wannian, head of the Chinese expert panel on outbreak response and disposal, said at a press conference Friday that the number of daily new confirmed infections, new suspected cases, the proportion of severe and critical cases in confirmed cases, and the mortality rate in Wuhan have all been declining.

-- Wuhan has so far built 16 facility-turned temporary hospitals with more than 13,000 beds. The hospitals have treated a total of 12,000 patients, or one in every four patients of the novel coronavirus in Wuhan. Over 7,600 patients are now being treated in such facilities.

Ma Xiaowei, director of the National Health Commission, said the daily number of patients discharged from such hospitals, designed for patients with mild symptoms, has greatly exceeded the number of new cases.