The Paper (www.thepaper.cn) learned from the press conference held by the State Council inter-agency task force at 15:00, 18 February that the number of new confirmed cases of the novel coronavirus pneumonia (NCP, or COVID-19) has dropped for 14 consecutive days. On 17 February, compared with the peak, for the first time, the number of daily new confirmed cases nationwide dropped below 2,000. For the first time, the number of daily new confirmed cases outside Hubei went below 100. And for the first time, the number of daily new fatal cases nationwide fell below 100. These three "first times" show that the outbreak is trending further in a positive direction.

An official from the National Health Commission pointed out that in coming days, efforts will be made to build on what has been achieved in epidemic control, and more attention will be given to treating the severe cases. It is important to effectively treat the mild cases, improve the diagnostic and therapeutic solutions and include traditional Chinese medicine in the treatment package to forestall the increase of severe cases and raise the cure rate.