Restrictions put damper on May Day travel plans

Transport ministry expects 62pc fall in journeys over the five-day holiday

Passenger traffic is expected to slump by 62 per cent during the May Day holiday period as China battles the latest wave of Covid-19 cases with draconian lockdowns and quarantine measures.

Ministry of Transport forecasts say a total of 100 million trips will be made over the five-day holiday, which starts on Saturday and runs until next Wednesday – a 62 per cent drop compared with the previous year.

Major cities, including Shanghai, Beijing and Guangzhou, are currently battling outbreaks that have seen restrictions being placed on people’s movements. Authorities in other parts of the country are also trying to discourage people from travelling.

“Most people will stay local and travel short distances, taking the pandemic situation and local government Covid prevention and control measures into account,” Zhou Min, deputy director of the ministry’s emergency office, told a press conference yesterday in Beijing.

The ministry also forecast passenger traffic would drop sharply in the Yangtze River Delta area, which includes Shanghai, but hold up relatively well in the Greater Bay Area and the Chengdu-Chongqing region.

Wu Liangyou, an official with the National Health Commission, said infections were still at worryingly high levels and the pandemic situation was “complicated”, but added that Beijing, Hebei, Jiangsu and several other provinces were handling their outbreaks “actively and effectively”.

“It has been found in many provinces that the infections have multiple sources and chains of transmission. There are spillovers from other provinces and also local contagions from unidentified sources, which makes the prevention work especially challenging,” Wu said.

The Beijing municipal authorities responded swiftly to a small outbreak of six cases last Friday, sealing off several residential buildings and ordering almost citywide mass testing, with the aim of completing three rounds by tomorrow.

The stringent Covid-19 prevention measures mean many people in the capital are expected to stay at home during the May Day holiday, traditionally the premier travel season in China.

Many popular attractions in the capital have stepped up their Covid checks ahead of the holiday.

The Universal Resort theme park will ask visitors to show proof of a negative test result taken within 24 hours of their visit and will check individual health codes and travel records.

The Bird’s Nest National Stadium and the Water Cube at the National Aquatic Centre will also require a negative test result issued within 48 hours of a visit.

One option for those wishing to escape Beijing’s urban sprawl is to head out into the hills near the capital.

According to the tourism website and app Mafengwo, “camping” was its hottest search word this week.