Sales at convenience stores in Japan rose 2.6 percent in February from a year earlier as prepared food and anti-infection products such as masks drew strong demand amid the outbreak of the new coronavirus, an industry group said Monday.

Same-store sales of seven major convenience store operators totaled 802.68 billion yen ($7.3 billion) in the reporting month, marking the second straight year-on-year increase, the Japan Franchise Association said.

The number of customers increased for the first time in five months to 1.26 billion, up 2.3 percent, as many people had stayed home longer to curb a further spread of the pneumonia-causing virus, it said.

The association also attributed the overall sales increase to being a leap year.

Average spending per customer rose 0.3 percent to 638.5 yen, up for the fifth consecutive month.