Jatenergy (ASX:JAT) shares are surging after the company said it booked record sales and revenue in February, as Chinese buyers sucked up its milk products.

Revenue was $8.3m for the month. The board has lifted full year guidance from $36m to $45-50m.

Sales through the company’s Sydney-based daigou (“to buy on behalf of”) channel Green Forest brand lifted from $1.1m in January to $3.2m in February. Jatenegy had been expecting a drop in sales, partly caused by the political unrest in Hong Kong, to weigh on full-year figures.

Jatenergy says Chinese buyers are most interested in lactoferrin products, which it says can boost the immune system.

The company says its new manufacturing facility, allowing it to cut back on third-party suppliers, did not contribute much to the February figures.

Fellow daigou operator AuMake (ASX:AU8) says Chinese consumers have made a “material shift” towards online buying, generating sales of $1.7m in February which equaled December’s record.

Investors had been concerned that AuMake’s $14.2m purchase of Broadway, a network of eight brick and mortar stores in Sydney and New Zealand, in mid-2019 was a big mistake, given the immediate loss of Asian tourists after the coronavirus threat became apparent.

But the company says its seven original stores are at breakeven due to “robust” visits from local Asian shoppers, some store closures, and reduced trading hours. It’s understood it currently has four stores open. The new Broadway stores are all closed until the China-imposed tour group travel ban is lifted.

AuMake also brought forward the launch of the Broadway online store to late February to capture the change in Chinese shopping behaviour and market to the subsidiary’s contacts in the tourism market, which are expected to promote products directly to consumers in China.

In other ASX COVID-19 news:

Respiri (ASX:RSH) will trial three “wheezos” at three hospitals in China on patients admitted with heightened respiratory problems resulting from infection with COVID-19. Three hospitals under the supervision of the Chongqing Municipal Health Commission expressed their interest in using Respiri’s wheezo device to help monitor the lung function of patients who have been admitted with the virus.

Biotron (ASX:BIT) is presenting new data about its HIV drug’s ability to restore immune function. Antiretroviral therapies that stop viruses reproducing in cells is one area that experts are looking at to treat COVID-19 in order to lower the severity of infection and reduce transmission.