Unfettered when officials last month ended three years of some of the world's tightest COVID-19 restrictions, workers streamed into railway stations and airports to head to smaller towns and rural homes, sparking fears of a broadening virus outbreak. Economists and analysts are scrutinising the holiday season, known as the Spring Festival, for glimmers of rebounding consumption across the world's second largest economy after new GDP data on Tuesday confirmed a sharp economic slowdown in China.