China's Spring Festival travel season to kick off Thursday

To curb the spread of the coronavirus during the holiday period, China issued a plan to reduce mass gatherings and strengthen epidemic control, with measures such as advocating off-peak travel and encouraging people to stay put during the holiday.

In light of sporadic resurgence of COVID-19 cases and measures to reduce people's movement, the China State Railway Group Co., Ltd., the national railway operator, lowered its estimate of railway passenger trips from 407 million to 296 million for the period.