China: Mass travel for the Chinese New Year is now possible for the first time in nearly three years.
People waiting to board a train at a railway station in Shanghai last week. — Reuters
With mass travel for the Chinese New Year possible for the first time in nearly three years after the relaxing of some of the world’s tightest Covid-19 curbs, the economy stands to gain from hundreds of thousands of people a day spending more as they return to China’s hinterland. Despite Chinese authorities confirming a huge increase in deaths recently – announcing that nearly 60,000 people with Covid-19 had died in hospitals between Dec 8 and Jan 12 – World Health Organisation officials are seeking a more sweeping accounting of death rates.
The WHO added that it would continue working with China to provide advice and support, but had not yet fixed another formal meeting with Chinese officials after WHO director general Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus spoke with Ma Xiaowei, director of China’s National Health Commission, recently. State media reported that some 390,000 passengers were expected to travel from Shanghai train stations alone for what is known as the Spring Festival holiday – seen as the world’s largest annual mass migration before Covid-19.
“Back in my hometown, there are many people who have tested positive, but I am not worried about it.”
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