UPDATE: Malaysia is refining its search for the missing Malaysian Airlines jetliner to focus on two areas where the plane might have lost communication with satellites.

The government is looking at two possible corridors, the first area described by Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak as a northern corridor. This stretches from the border of Kazakhstan and Turkmenistan to northern Thailand.

The second is a southern corridor that stretches from Indonesia to the southern Indian Ocean.

This came after new data showed that last contact between the plane and a satellite was 8.11am on Saturday, more than seven hours after it left Kuala Lumpur.

"The investigation team is working to further refine the information," said Mr Najib in a media briefing on Saturday. He added that search operations in the South China Sea will be called off.

"We are ending our operations in the South China Sea and reassessing the redeployment of our assets. We are working with the relevant countries to request all information relevant to the search, including radar data," he said.

Related stories:

Five things about the Indian Ocean

The search for MH370 has now expanded west to include the massive Indian Ocean.

10 key facts about the Malacca Strait and Andaman Sea

The search for the missing Malaysia Airlines flight MH370, which was focused earlier on the South China Sea, has been expanded to the Malacca Strait and the Andaman Sea.

5 things to know about South China Sea and Gulf of Thailand

Malaysia Airlines flight MH370 went missing on March 8, 2014 while flying over an area where the Gulf of Thailand meets the South China Sea.