Cured patients and medical workers pose for a group photo at the Fourth People's Hospital of Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region in Yinchuan, capital of the region, Feb. 8, 2020. Ten patients of the novel coronavirus pneumonia were cured and discharged from the hospital in Ningxia on Saturday. (Xinhua/Feng Kaihua)

BEIJING, Feb. 8 (Xinhua) -- China has stepped up efforts to curb the spread of the novel coronavirus (2019-nCoV). Here are the latest developments:

-- The novel coronavirus can transmit via aerosol, according to Chinese health and epidemic prevention experts.

-- Hubei Province can produce over 30,000 protective suits per day, said Cao Guangjing, vice governor of the province, at a press conference Saturday.

Cao said the major enterprises of protective products in the province have all resumed work as of Friday, and the N95 masks manufacturers eye a capacity of 150,000 to 200,000 masks per day.

-- Chinese health authorities said Saturday that they received reports of 3,399 new confirmed cases of novel coronavirus infection and 86 deaths Friday from 31 provincial-level regions and the Xinjiang Production and Construction Corps.

The overall confirmed cases on the Chinese mainland had reached 34,546 by the end of Friday and 722 people had died of the disease.

-- A total of 2,050 patients infected with the novel coronavirus had been discharged from hospital after recovery by the end of Friday, Chinese health authorities announced Saturday.

-- Pangolins may be an intermediate host of the virus, as indicated by a study led by South China Agricultural University. Researchers found the metagenome sequence of the novel coronavirus strain separated from pangolins to be 99 percent identical to that from infected people.

-- Wuhan, the epicenter of the novel coronavirus outbreak, is in a citywide mobilization to comb communities to ensure every confirmed or suspected patient is located and attended to as a senior official vowed to nail any official deserter "to history's pillar of shame."

-- Beijing on Friday published the number of patients suspected to be infected with the novel coronavirus for the first time. ■