BEIJING — China's insurance sector posted steady growth in the first two months of 2020 despite the fallout of the novel coronavirus outbreak, the country's top insurance regulator said.

The sector saw original premium income rise by 1.1 percent year-on-year to 1.18 trillion yuan ($165.90 billion) during the period, data from China Banking and Insurance Regulatory Commission showed.

By the end of February, the total assets of the sector stood at 21.3 trillion yuan, 3.6 percent higher than the data registered at the end of last year.

The data also showed that in the January-February period, Chinese insurers offered payouts of 189.2 billion yuan, shrinking 15.5 percent from one year earlier.