Beijing, May 14 (IANS): Orders from China's online car-hailing companies dropped in April, as the resurgence of COVID-19 cases influenced the companies' operations and people's willingness to travel, data from the Ministry of Transport showed.

Online car-hailing companies received 476 million orders in April, down 11.6 percent month on month, the ministry said.

Among the top 10 online car-hailing providers by order volume, eight reported declines in the number of orders last month, with only two logging increases, reports Xinhua news agency.

By the end of April, a total of 270 online car-hailing companies have been granted permission to operate in China, increasing by three from the end of March, the data showed.

Didi Chuxing and Meituan Dache are some of the leadinc cab-hailing platforms in ther country.

China last month granted permits to internet services giant Baidu and autonomous car company Pony.ai to provide driverless ride-hailing services to the public in Beijing.