Several Chinese cities yesterday went on high COVID-19 alert as the Lunar New Year holiday travel season began, requiring travelers to report their trips days before their arrival, as the Omicron variant of SARS-CoV-2 reached more areas, including Beijing.
Authorities have warned the highly contagious Omicron variant adds to the increased risk of COVID-19 transmission as hundreds of millions of people travel around China ahead of Lunar New Year on Feb. 1.
Cities such as Luoyang and Jieyang on Sunday said that travelers would need to report their trips to communities, employers or hotels three days ahead of arrival.
The southwestern city of
As the Spring Festival approaches, at least seven provinces and municipalities across China have issued notices to encourage local residents to avoid travel and stay put during the holidays by Monday as the annual Spring Festival travel rush is the world’s largest human migration, which could increase risks of accelerating the virus transmission.
The forthcoming Spring Festival travel rush, the third annual human migration across the world s second-largest economy amid the COVID-19 pandemic, will likely be the least busy in seven years with estimated 280 million railway passenger trips. It mirrors a more adept approach to sustaining economic resilience amid the traditional holidays, observers said.
China has ramped up its oversight of COVID-19 control work at ports and key venues as the 2022 Spring Festival travel rush is projected to be much busier than that in 2021, authorities said on Wednesday.