China's Largest Holiday Spring Festival Transport Begins... 'Total of 2 Billion Trips Expected'

[Image source=Yonhap News]

[Asia Economy Reporter Kwon Jae-hee] China’s special transportation period around the Spring Festival (Chinese New Year, January 22) has begun on the 7th, marking the first such period since the abandonment of the 'Zero COVID' policy.

The special transportation period, called Chunwon, lasts for 40 days from the 7th until February 15.

Due to the spread of COVID-19 in early 2020, many Chinese people gave up returning to their hometowns over the past three years amid various movement restrictions and recommendations by authorities. However, Chinese authorities expect a sharp increase in the number of people returning home this year following the large-scale easing of quarantine measures.

Some regions, including Shanghai, offered various incentives such as cash and coupons to workers who chose to stay and work instead of returning home. Nevertheless, so-called 'revenge homecoming'?the strong determination to visit hometowns this year after being unable to do so for the past two to three years?is expected to be significant.

The Ministry of Transport of China forecasts that a total of 2.095 billion trips will be made during this year’s Chunwon period, which is a 99.5% increase compared to the same period last year.

Some predict that a considerable number of people may ultimately give up returning home due to concerns about infecting elderly parents living in their hometowns, but overall, the number of travelers is expected to be much higher than during 2020?2022.

Since hundreds of millions of migrant workers (nongmingong) who are registered residents of rural areas but work in large cities will be traveling home for a short period, preventing the spread of infections in rural areas has become crucial.

With most government quarantine restrictions lifted, leaving only personal preventive measures such as mask-wearing, if residents from large cities?where infection rates are relatively higher?return home, severe infections among the elderly in rural areas could rapidly increase.

The State Council, China’s cabinet, instructed local governments last month to prepare one doctor and 2.5 to 3 nurses per ICU bed in rural areas and to establish numerous fever clinics in rural villages. They are also promoting the dispatch of medical personnel to rural hospitals and building remote networking systems to support rural doctors.

There is also an emergency regarding securing treatments.

According to major foreign media reports on the 6th, China is negotiating with Pfizer to obtain a license to manufacture and distribute a generic version of Pfizer’s oral COVID-19 treatment Paxlovid domestically.

Additionally, China’s National Medical Products Administration conditionally approved the import of Merck & Co. (MSD)’s oral COVID-19 treatment Lagevrio on the 29th of last month.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.