Chinese New Year: World’s Largest Human Migration Beginning

BEIJING — China’s 40-day Spring Festival travel rush began on January 17, with the start of the world’s largest human migration event coming as the country faces growing concerns over omicron outbreaks.

The period involves hundreds of millions of trips and, on January 19, Guangzhou and Dongguan were the top two cities for departures, according to Chinese tech company Baidu, with Guangzhou and Chengdu the most popular destinations.

COVID-19 means total trips will remain down from around 3 billion in 2019, sitting at round 1.1 billion, according to Asia News International, citing the state-backed Global Times.

However, as The Guardian reported that at least nine cities across six provinces in China have reported Omicron cases in the last two weeks, Asia News International reports that 280 million railway passenger trips and nearly 600,000 passenger flights are scheduled in total, explaining that if outbreaks occur, railway services are ready to be immediately suspended or reduced, while flights would be adjusted “dynamically.”