Expert: COVID-19 risk minimal during holiday

Tourists visit Great Tang All Day Mall in Xi'an, capital of Northwest China's Shaanxi province, Dec 30, 2022. [Photo/Xinhua]

There's little need to worry about a predicted new wave of COVID-19 infections during the Chinese Lunar New Year holiday, even though large numbers of people will be on the move, an expert said.

"Even if a second wave of infections from the same virus strain does arrive, it will generally not exceed the first wave. It will likely have a much lower peak," said Liu Yu, an epidemiologist at Peking University's School of Public Health, was quoted as saying by People's Daily

Many places in the country have predicted a second wave of infections around Lunar New Year, or Spring Festival, including Zhangzhou, Fujian province, Jinan, Shandong province and Shaoxing, Zhejiang province.

Because of the crush of people returning home, travelers are more likely to be exposed to the virus, and those who were not infected yet are at increased risk of becoming infected, Liu said.

For those who have already weathered infection, the risk of a second round remains but is not high, Liu said, adding that high levels of neutralizing antibodies are maintained in the body for a short time.

"There's no need to worry too much," Liu said.