Expert: Holiday travel safe, but not encouraged

It's reasonably safe for people to travel to their hometowns for the Spring Festival holiday in February, given the current controls — even though family gatherings are not encouraged — a senior scientist said on Sunday.

Zeng Guang, chief epidemiologist at the Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention, said that even though there will be large-scale population flows during Spring Festival, a major outbreak will not occur as long as there are no infected people in the crowds, Guangzhou Daily quoted Zheng as saying on Monday.

"During the National Holiday in October, there was a big population flow, which showed that the risk of an outbreak is totally under control," he said. "However, there will be many more people traveling during the Spring Festival. Combined with the longer survival period of the novel coronavirus in low temperatures in winter, that means the risk will be higher than it was in October."

Beijing reported one imported confirmed COVID-19 case on Monday. Pang Xinghuo, deputy head of the Beijing Center for Disease Control and Prevention, said at the news conference that it's suggested people not go to medium- and-high risk areas in China or travel overseas when it's not necessary.

Xu Hejian, spokesman for the municipal government, said Beijing will continue its strict prevention and control measures to avoid imported risks — both the risks from the outbound travelers and imported cold-chain foods.