Containers are unloaded at Qingdao Port in Shandong province in March. (Photo: Yu Fangping/China Daily)

China's fixed assets investment in the transportation sector reached 299.9 billion yuan ($41.93 billion) in April, up 18.2 percent year-on-year, the Ministry of Transportation said on Wednesday.

The volume of commercial passenger traffic reached 570 million in April, returning to 39.8 percent of the same period last year, an increase of 12.8 percentage points over March.

The country's public transport in 36 central cities handled 2.86 billion passengers last month, recovering to 50 percent of the same period last year and up 18.6 percentage points from March.

With effective measures to fight COVID-19 and resume production in place, China's freight volume basically recovered to the same period last year, with 3.85 billion tons in April, about 97.9 percent of the same period last year.

In April, China's ports handled 1.19 billion tons of goods, an increase of 4.1 percent from a 2.4 percent decline in March.

Domestic and foreign trade throughputs increased 4.9 percent and 2.4 percent respectively, in the same period.

The country's economic recovery from COVID-19 gained further momentum as major indicators improved last month.