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World’s biggest migration under way as China prepares for Lunar New Year

Chinese travellers flocked to train stations and airports on Friday to take part in a nationwide ritual ahead of the Lunar New Year: the world’s biggest annual human migration.

Around three billion trips will be made during the spring festival travel rush, China’s transport ministry has estimated.

The period began this year on January 10 and is expected to last through February 18, well after Lunar New Year’s Day on January 25.

China Travel Rush
A late-arriving passenger runs to catch his train at the Beijing Railway Station (Mark Schiefelbein/AP)

The festivities as China moves into the Year Of The Rat are a time for family reunions and abundant feasts.

For migrant labourers who work in cities far from home, it may be the one time in the year that they can see their relatives.

Extra precautions will be taken with this year’s journey, as a viral pneumonia outbreak has struck central China.

In the city of Wuhan, 41 people have been diagnosed with a new type of coronavirus, a family of viruses with consequences ranging from the common cold to severe diseases like Sars.

Two patients have died.

China US Trade
A woman walks a depiction of a Rat with the words “Bring in wealth and treasures” ahead of the Chinese Lunar New Year Year of the Rat celebration (Ng Han Guan/AP)

Transport hubs will strengthen disinfection, monitoring and prevention measures, said Wang Yang, the Chinese ministry of transport’s chief engineer.

“The emergence of the epidemic may cause panic among people, especially in areas where people are concentrated during the spring festival travel period,” the engineer told reporters at a news conference last week.

There were no signs of additional screening or other measures to combat the spread of germs Friday morning at Beijing South Station, where thousands thronged the station’s main hall.

Officers at a police outpost said they were not aware of the coronavirus outbreak.

A woman named Wang Liu at the station’s service counter said she “had not heard of” the situation.

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