Chinese families ring in a restrictons-free Lunar New Year
For the first time in two years without covid-19 restrictions, Chinese families gathered on Saturday for the traditional Lunar new year’s eve dinner.
"The pandemic is gone, for the new year I wish everybody prosperous business, health, and to restore production," said dinner guest Guo Jin, celebrating at the Shangri-La Hotel in Beijing with his family.
“Last year everybody went through a lot and also difficult moments," said businesswoman Liu Zhuoran, while having dinner with her family. “But we managed to handle it pretty well. Now we have to keep putting effort in it and our lives will be better and better,” she said.
The mass movement of people during the ongoing Lunar New Year holiday period may spread the pandemic, boosting infections in some areas, but a second Covid wave is unlikely in the near term, Wu Zunyou, chief epidemiologist at the China Center for Disease Control and Prevention, said on the Weibo social media platform.
Hundreds of millions of Chinese are travelling across the country for holiday reunions that had been suspended under recently eased Covid curbs, raising fears of fresh outbreaks in rural areas less equipped to manage large outbreaks.
Reuters
