BEIJING: Iphie Nie, a 30-year-old designer in Beijing who usually travels to visit family in her hometown of Shenzhen during the Chinese New Year, has like many Chinese reluctantly decided against booking a flight for the mid-February holiday.in what is normally the busiest time of the year. Those who are going anyway must present a nucleic acid test with negative results taken in the seven days before returning home.
"Even though I'm in a low-risk area, people in my hometown would get a bit nervous when they hear that I just got back from Beijing. It's just too much trouble," Nie said.Beijing has reported new COVID-19 cases for 11 consecutive days and nationwide case numbers, while tiny by the standards of most Western countries, are at 10-month highs.
A report by aviation data provider Variflight predicts a reduction of six million trips over the Chinese New Year as a result of the COVID-19 test requirement and home quarantine rules, with about 50 per cent of travellers likely to cancel. ForwardKeys said travellers had been booking tickets later than usual, with 61 per cent of Chinese doing so within four days of departure in March to December last year, up from 52 per cent in 2019.
Flying bears more risk to infection. What about the volume of people travelling home on the high speed train?
Singapore Latest News, Singapore Headlines
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