The Purchasing Managers’ Index (PMI) for China’s non-manufacturing sector increased to 47.8 in May, up from 41.9 in April, the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) said Tuesday.

A reading above 50 indicates expansion, while a reading below it reflects contraction.

NBS senior statistician Zhao Qinghe said that the domestic COVID-19 infections had steadily declined in May, leading to recovery of the service sector.

NBS data showed that the sub-index for the service sector stood at 47.1 in May, up from 40 in April.

Qinghe said that among the 21 sectors surveyed, industries including retail, railway and air transportation were in the expansion territory.

The new order index for the non-manufacturing sector stood at 44.1 in May, up from 37.4 in April, indicating rising demand in the market.

The construction sector had continued expansion, but the sub-index for the sector was down by 0.5 percentage points from April to 52.2 in May.

Confidence in the market has increased for most non-manufacturing firms, with the sub-index measuring business activity expectations rising two percentage points from April to 55.6 in May.

Tuesday’s data also showed that the PMI for the manufacturing sector came in at 49.6 in May, up from 47.4 in April.