China on Saturday reported nearly 60,000 deaths in people who had COVID-19 since early December, offering hard numbers for an unprecedented surge that was apparent in overcrowded hospitals and packed crematoriums even as the government released little data about the status of the pandemic for weeks.

For decades, Huawei's founder stayed out of sight as it grew to become the biggest maker of network gear for phone carriers and passed Apple as the No. 2 smartphone brand.

China's economic growth edged down to 6.8 per cent in the final quarter of 2015 as trade and consumer spending weakened, dragging full-year growth to its lowest in 25 years.