China is ramping up efforts to boost new types of consumption and foster consumption upgrading amid the novel coronavirus outbreak, the nation's top regulator of the industry said on Wednesday.

Xie Shaofeng, spokesman for the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, said China has seen a growth opportunity in new types of consumption in fields such as 5G and virtual reality-powered online shopping platforms, cloud gaming and smart education

In the next step, the ministry will take targeted measures to cultivate new consumption and foster consumption upgrades in an effort to foster new growth drivers.

Measures include increasing financial support for companies in hard-hit fields, promoting the development of new businesses, building a new type of information consumption experience center and prompting the growth of both online and offline consumption.