Coronavirus: Chinese urged not to make ‘unnecessary’ trips home for Lunar New Year

Local authorities want residents to avoid the annual holiday travel rush to prevent the spread of the virus

It comes as northern Hebei province is grappling with the country’s biggest spike in infections in recent months

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Chinese have been told to avoid the annual mass migration for Lunar New Year as the country grapples with fresh coronavirus outbreaks. Photo: Reuters

Published: 10:00am, 8 Jan 2021Updated: 10:00am, 8 Jan 2021

Chinese authorities are urging residents not to make “unnecessary” trips to their hometowns for the Lunar New Year holiday, as the country grapples with fresh coronavirus outbreaks.

Many local governments have issued notices this week calling on people to stay home to prevent the spread of the virus, prompting China State Railway to announce that any train tickets booked before Thursday could be refunded.

The country sees the world’s largest annual human migration in the lead-up to the Lunar New Year – which falls on February 12 this year – as people travel home for family reunions.

China’s railway network had been expecting some 407 million train journeys to be taken from January 28 to March 8 during what is known as chunyun, or the Spring Festival travel rush.

That was the estimate given last week by Zhu Wenzhong, deputy director of China State Railway Group’s passenger transport department. He said that would be a 93 per cent jump from last year, when the festive season was disrupted by the virus outbreak in Wuhan, but about the same as 2019.

China’s cabinet has also urged employers to be flexible about this year’s Lunar New Year break. “In a bid to prevent transmission and control the pandemic, we encourage companies and enterprises to make flexible arrangements for the holiday and guide employees to spend the vacation in the area where they work,” the State Council said in a notice last week.