Chinese passenger traffic set for heavy fall over May Day holiday as Covid controls bite
- The transport ministry expects 100 million journeys over the five-day holiday – a 62 per cent fall on last year’s total
- Lockdowns and other restrictions are in place in some of the country’s biggest cities, including Beijing, Guangzhou and Shanghai
China’s passenger traffic is expected to slump by 62 per cent during the May Day holiday period, as the country battles the latest wave of Covid-19 cases with draconian lockdowns and quarantine measures.
Ministry of Transport forecasts say a total of 100 million trips will be made over the five-day holiday, which starts on Saturday and runs until next Wednesday – a 62 per cent drop compared with the previous year.
“Most people will stay local and travel short distances, taking the pandemic situation and local government Covid prevention and control measures into account,” Zhou Min, deputy director of the ministry’s emergency office, told a press conference on Thursday in Beijing.
The ministry also forecast passenger traffic would drop sharply in the Yangtze River Delta area in the east, which includes Shanghai, but hold up relatively well in the Greater Bay Area in the south and Chengdu-Chongqing area in the west.
China has tallied over 550,000 local infections this month, with all provinces and regions, except Tibet, reporting local cases.
