There are fears China’s city dwellers heading back to their rural hometowns for the Lunar Year may cause a COVID outbreak in smaller communities.

There are fears China’s city dwellers heading back to their rural hometowns for the Lunar NEW Year may cause a COVID outbreak in smaller communities.

Doctors and health authorities are struggling, in what is believed to be the world’s largest annual movement of people.

This is the first Lunar New Year after China ended three years of stringent COVID travel restrictions, lockdowns, and other measures.

China’s government recently reported that nearly 60,000 people had died of the disease in hospitals between December 8 and January 12.

That number itself is also being debated, as it doesn’t include people who died at home and there are questions over how a COVID death is reported.

The Lunar New Year officially begins on January 21 and China’s state media is full of reports of rural communities bolstering their medical supplies.