The Lunar New Year holiday in China is the world’s largest annual migration of people, with hundreds of millions of travelers fanning out across the country and the world, and hundreds of billions of dollars spent on hotels, restaurants and shopping.

Now, with a mysterious new pneumonia-like coronavirus that has killed at least 17 people, the mass migration is also an epidemiologist’s nightmare.

 

Impact of the Mysterious Virus

The authorities are scrambling to control a virus that has sickened more than 470 people and spread around the region, even reaching North America. Officials are imposing restrictions on travel out of Wuhan, the central Chinese city of more than 11 million at the epicenter of the outbreak, and stepping up screening at transportation hubs. The World Health Organization is expected to hold a meeting on Wednesday to discuss whether to declare the outbreak an international health emergency, which would escalate the global response.

 

Holiday Travel Data

Before the virus emerged, the government had estimated that Chinese travelers would make three billion trips over the holiday period, also known as the Spring Festival. But on Wednesday, a senior health official delivered a stark warning: The huge tide of travel during the holiday would make it more difficult to contain the outbreak. Li Bin, a deputy head of China’s health commission, also said that the virus could mutate and spread more easily.

 

Many Chinese have already canceled their travel plans, forgoing vacations and what for some is their only chance to return home for family reunions during the year. The Lunar New Year, a weeklong holiday, begins on Friday, when the country says farewell to the Year of the Pig and welcomes the Year of the Rat.

 

Even some working in the travel industry were nervous. Flight attendants at Cathay Pacific, Hong Kong’s leading airline, publicly lobbied the company to allow them to wear masks during all flights, a request that was granted on Wednesday.

 

“It will be too late and too painful for all of us and the Company to wait until one of our own is infected,” the airline’s union for flight attendants said in a statement. “The damage caused will be catastrophic.”

 

To encourage travelers to stay away from Wuhan, tour companies are promising penalty-free refunds for hotel bookings and air and train tickets to and from the city. Travel operators are suspending itineraries with stops there, raising concerns of a slump during what is usually one of the most lucrative weeks of the year. For more information, please visit nytimes.com

Credits to: New York Times

 

 

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