COVID-19 control in China during mass population movements at New Year
Simiao Chen, Juntao Yang, Weizhong Yang, Chen Wang, Till Bärnighausen
Published:February 24, 2020DOI:https://doi.org/10.1016/S0140-6736(20)30421-9
The outbreak of novel coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) continues to spread rapidly in China. The Chinese Lunar New Year holiday, the start of which coincided with the emergence of COVID-19, is the most celebratory time of the year in China, during which a massive human migration takes place as individuals travel back to their hometowns. People in China are estimated to make close to 3 billion trips over the 40-day travel period, or Chunyun, of the Lunar New Year holiday. About 5 million people left Wuhan, the capital city of Hubei province and epicentre of the COVID-19 epidemic, before the start of the travel ban on Jan 23, 2020. About a third of those individuals travelled to locations outside of Hubei province. Limiting the social contacts of these individuals was crucial for COVID-19 control, because patients with no or mild symptoms can spread the virus.
