The recent spike, which has infected more than 200 people in Fujian as of Thursday, came just before the annual Mid-Autumn Festival holiday and right as the country was kicking off the 14th National Games, a domestic Olympics-style event.

A notice issued by the Beijing Centre for Disease Prevention and Control this week said that if the public must travel they should plan to avoid peak hours. The city health department also told its residents to only travel short distances outside the city.

A similar statement by the Ministry of Education called on teachers and students to only leave their cities if necessary.

Several cities in China have issued guidelines for locals to avoid travel as much as possible during the Mid-Autumn Festival.

A survey of tens of thousands of people by China Newsweek found that 56 per cent of respondents plan to stay home for the holiday, while 12 per cent said they would travel “against all odds”.

Online, the Covid-19 marathon seems to be taking its toll on people.

One person complained on Weibo, “Can there be better measures against the virus? Every time there’s a holiday, something happens. I haven’t been home in over a year!”

Another asked: “Have you considered the feelings of those who want to visit their parents?”

In 2020, the Mid-Autumn Festival was the first public holiday after China largely controlled the coronavirus, but statistics showed the virus was still dampening travel plans. According to the Ministry of Transport, the number of travellers decreased by 30.93 per cent compared with 2019, with an average of 47 million trips per day during the holiday.

This year, there had been hope for a travel rebound, and many people had made plans to take their long-awaited vacation. But the latest outbreak in Fujian shattered people’s hopes.

“It’s most likely that my husband will go as planned, but my son and I will stay put. There are too many people on the train. It’s too risky,” Mo said.