China marked the first day of "chun yun", the 40-day period of Lunar New Year travel. Before the Covid pandemic it was also called the world's largest annual migration of people. The country is bracing for a huge increase in travelers and the spread of Covid infections as Beijing ended its stringent ‘zero Covid’ policy.
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This Lunar New Year public holiday, which officially starts from January 21, will be the first since 2020 without any travel restrictions domestically in China. As China witnessed historic protests against the policy that included frequent testing, restricted movement and mass lockdowns, it dramatically dismantled the policy following which cases are rising in the country overwhelming hospitals.
China's transport ministry said that it expects more than 2 billion passengers to take trips over the next 40 days. This will mark an increase of 99.5% year-on-year, reaching 70.3% of 2019 trip numbers. During the period, workers return to their hometowns which will be a first in years since the start of the coronavirus pandemic.
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{{/usCountry}}Although concerns remain that the great migration of workers in cities to their hometowns will cause a surge in infections in smaller towns and rural areas which are less well-equipped to deal with the pandemic.
This also comes as the World Health Organisation expressed concern about the lack of data from China on Covid. Fearing spread of infections, many countries are requiring a negative test result for travelers from China within 48 hours of departure.