Central China's Henan Province plans to offer loans of no less than 1 billion yuan (141 million U.S. dollars) to help revive the cultural and tourism sectors that have been hammered by the novel coronavirus outbreak, authorities said.

China CITIC Bank Corp Ltd witnessed a substantial improvement in asset quality last year. Its non-performing loan ratio fell 12 basis points year-on-year to 1.65 percent at the end of 2019, hitting the lowest point in the last four years.

Though the strong containment measures taken by China to combat the novel coronavirus outbreak have achieved tangible results, fresh cases outside the country have been escalating and there is still very little information about the disease development.