China’s retail sales slumped 11% year-on-year to RMB 2.9 trillion ($426 million) in April, a significant deceleration compared with the 17.7% year-on-year increase in the same period last year, according to data from China’s National Bureau of Statistics. The drop comes after China’s most recent Covid-19 outbreaks affected the normal operation of several top-tier cities, including Shanghai and Beijing. From January to April, the country’s retail sales recorded a smaller 0.2% year-on-year dip to RMB 13.8 trillion, although this still represents a significant deceleration compared with single-digit growth in the previous six months. Online retail sales increased 3.3% year-on-year to RMB 3.9 trillion in the first four months of this year. The bureau’s data shows that online retail sales for physical goods account for 23.8% of total retail consumer goods sales in the four months ended April 30. [China’s National Bureau of Statistics, in Chinese]