Chinese forsake traditional travel home for Lunar New Year amid fresh outbreak of Covid-19

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Generally considered the greatest human migration on Earth, China’s Lunar New Year festival this year will be unlike any other. In the wake of a fresh outbreak of Covid-19, the country called on its citizens not to travel home for the celebrations lest they spur further spread of the disease.

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China’s Ministry of Transport estimates that there will be 61 percent fewer journeys than there were for the 2019 festivities and 22 percent fewer than last year, when the Covid-19 pandemic was already underway.

Despite the personal sacrifice that forfeiting the traditional gathering implies, most Chinese are willing to comply.

FRANCE 24 met with a family and a group of friends in Beijing who are ringing in the Year of the Ox a bit differently this year.

FRANCE 24’s Charles Pellegrin, Anna Hartley and Zhifan Liu bring us this report. To watch, click on the video player above.

Source: Thanks france24